Living Without Ethie
by Hallow Sisters On My Mind
Summary: The unthinkable happens and Esmerelda is not coping so is sent away to help with her recovery but can Esmerelda learn to cope without her Ethie? WW 2017. Rated M for MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hello everyone welcome to a new story. This story is based on the storyline of one of my favorite films 'A Little Princess', I watched it recently and could not get this idea out of my head. The story will be similar but will not have characters from the film only The Worst Witch. Sorry if this one is a really sad one. Warning: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. I do NOT own The Worst Witch or the WW characters.

* * *

 **Living Without Ethie**

* * *

Chapter One

It was mid-afternoon on a warm August day and people were out enjoying their summer holidays. Two such people were two girls. Two strangers. One of the girls had earphones in her ears and moved her head to the music as she made her way across a bridge. From the other direction another girl was making her way across the bridge too, this girl had her nose buried in a book as she walked. Neither girl realised at the time how fate was going to change everything in just a few seconds.

Both girls were crossing each other in the middle of the bridge when suddenly the old wooden bridge gave way and the two girls found themselves falling fast down into the raging river below. The two girls screamed but there was no-one around. It was a quiet area away from everyone and everything.

Both the girls hit the water and seeing that they luckily had landed quite near to a shore one of the girls started to swim to safety until she heard a scream.

"Help...I can't swim" the other girl shouted moving her arms from side to side but not actually getting anywhere. The girl who had been swimming away turned around she could not just leave her there.

The water was getting deeper and the girl who could not swim found herself going under the water. The other girl saw what had happened and went underwater holding her breathe but after a few seconds she came back up unable to find the girl, she did not want to give up so went under again but still could not find her. Coming back up the girl looked around and seeing that there was no-one around she quickly lifted her hand casting a spell. This was normally something she would never do in public but right now it was the only choice she had. The spell made it so the girl could see under the water and she saw the girl she was looking for floating a little further away from her and swam towards her as fast as she could going under the water when she was near enough to the girl.

The girl swam down grabbing a hold of the other girl's arm who was slowly floating down and swimming back above the water. The girl swam fast holding onto the girl putting her head back under the water whenever she could to make sure she was still holding onto the girl. Finally reaching shore the girl pulled the unconscious girl who could not swim onto the ground.

After she had gotten the other girl out of the water the girl who had rescued her started coughing, her chest feeling tight from the water that had entered her system in her attempt to rescue the other girl. The girl coughed struggling to catch her breathe before falling next to the other girl in a dead faint.

* * *

A few miles away in a beautiful four story mansion lived the Hallow family which consisted of Mr and Mrs Hallow and their three daughters. Esmeralda, Ethel and Sybil. Despite it being a lovely day the family was staying in because Mr and Mrs Hallow had to work later.

Currently Mr and Mrs Hallow were sat on the sofa with their youngest Sybil all talking happily to each other. Their middle daughter, Ethel, had gone out to the library that morning as she did most mornings as she wanted to avoid her family. The eldest daughter, Esmeralda was sat at the dining table near her parents and younger sister doing homework but she was fidgeting ever few seconds.

"Esmeralda, sit still" her mother told her seeing her moving around.

"Yes do what your mother says you are making me feel dizzy" her father commented agreeing with his wife.

"I can't help it" Esmeralda replied fidgeting some more.

It was quite unlike the girl to fidget, normally she could sit for hours and not fidget once but today she could not stay still no matter how hard she tried and she could not concentrate on her work either, she had been working for twenty minutes and had wrote two sentences. She was not with it today and she told herself maybe it was the summer heat.

Just then the doorbell rang and no-one realised how that simple thing would change their lives forever.

No-one got up to answer the door. The family were after all rich and had people to answer the door for them. No-one therefore thought much of it and let the doorman answer the door.

The family were all relaxing and doing their own thing when the main butler, Sebastian, walked into the room looking very serious.

"Mr and Mrs Hallow the police are here" Sebastian told them. At these words there was a big reaction. Mr and Mrs Hallow looked up at him, Sybil looked around confused and Esmeralda looked up from her essay her pen still in her hand.

"Whatever are they here for?" Mrs Hallow asked her butler.

"I am sorry ma'am they would not tell me but they said they need to talk to you right away" Sebastian replied.

"Alright let's get this over with, send them in Sebastian" Mr Hallow replied just wanting this over with.

"Yes of course sir" the man said with a polite bow before leaving. Mrs Hallow tapped Sybil on the arm.

"Upstairs sweetie" she told her youngest knowing it was not sutiable for her to be there.

"But I want to know what they have to say" Sybil replied wanting to stay as after all this had never happened before.

"Now Sybil" her father said in a tone meaning it was not up for discussion. Sybil stood up and ran upstairs and it seemed Mr and Mrs Hallow had forgotten their eldest was sat at the dining table because they did not tell her to go or look at her.

* * *

Two policemen walked into the room and suddenly Esmeralda started to feel sick. She had no idea why but she just knew in that moment they were going to deliver bad news.

"Mr and Mrs Hallow I am PC Williams and this is my partner PC Kennedy" one of the men said. Both appeared to be in their mid forties and maybe Esmeralda was dreaming...did they look unhappy?

Esmeralda put down her pencil and stood up moving to stand in the doorway so she could listen to what the men had to say undetected by either her parents or the officers. Every fibre of her being was telling her to leave because what she was about to hear was not good but she found herself glued to the spot unable to move.

"Please take a seat" Mrs Hallow said. The two men sat on the sofa opposite Mr and Mrs Hallow looking solemn.

"Mr and Mrs Hallow we are here to talk to you about Ethel" PC Williams started getting to the point as to why they were there.

"Oh no what has she done?" Mr Hallow asked thinking his daughter had gotten into trouble with the police as after all the girl was prone to trouble and why else would they want to talk about Ethel?

"Nothing Mr Hallow I am afraid I have some very bad news" the officer started to say to them. Esmeralda stood there her breathe already catching thinking her sister was hurt. Neither of her parents replied to the officers last comment so the men continued to talk.

"I am sorry to have to tell you that there was an accident this morning, the bridge up Weatherwhite Bay collapsed" PC Kennedy said who up to this point had not spoken.

"Weatherwhite Bay?" Mr Hallow asked narrowing his eyebrows.

"Yes you must know it, it is only a few miles from here" PC Kennedy replied surprised he did not know where it was he was talking about.

"Yes well we don't really go out much because we have work" Mrs Hallow told them explaining why they did not know the area. Esmeralda knew it though she had walked through there thousands of times as had both of her sisters.

"Yes well it does not really matter if you know the bridge or not the point is that it collapsed" PC Williams replied not seeing how it mattered if they knew the place or not.

"So what does this have to do with Ethel?" Mrs Hallow asked not understanding where they were going with this.

"Mr and Mrs Hallow the is a river underneath the bridge and I am afraid your daughter fell in along with another young girl" the policemen went on explaining.

Neither of them had noticed Esmeralda, if they had maybe they would have stopped talking because the girl had turned pale as Kennedy had spoken, her breathe getting fast willing the man to tell them her baby sister was in hospital. She needed to hear them words. She could deal with them words.

"This afternoon a man was going to go fishing at the dock and I am so sorry to have to be the one to tell you that he found both your daughter and another girl on the shore" one of the men said. Clearly he was trying to put of telling these parents about the worse part. He looked at his partner who sighed before he started to talk.

"Mr and Mrs Hallow what we are trying to tell you is ...your daughter drowned...I am afraid that Ethel has passed away" PC Williams said finally breaking the news to the family. Finally giving the life changing news to the family.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Once the officers had finished talking there was a deadly silence as the family took in what they had just been told. Esmeralda shook her head but she did not believe it at all.

"No you are wrong" Esmeralda said alerting the adults to her presence. One of the officers looked at her sympathetically and her parents looked at her sadly.

"Esmeralda how long have you been there?" Mrs Hallow asked. She did not reply.

"W...why do you think it is Ethel?" Mr Hallow managed to ask quietly not understanding.

"We would not have known but she was holding this" Officer Williams said as he reached into his pocket pulling something shiny out. Esmeralda gasped out as she saw what it was. It was a gold locket and Esmeralda recognised it instantly because she had been the one who brought it for Ethel.

"That's Ethie's!" she replied staring at the golden locket in shock.

"Yes that is right, we managed to track down where it was brought and by whom, when we looked inside we realised you were the person who brought the locket and you had two sisters which is how we realised this locket belonged to your sister, it was the pictures inside that helped us" PC Kennedy replied as he looked at the girl. There was a picture of Esmeralda and Ethel in the locket. Esmeralda stared at the piece of jewellery unable to remove her eyes away from it.

"H...How sure are you that it is Ethel...I mean you said there was two girls it could have being pulled off" Mrs Hallow told the officers wanting to grasp at straws, anything to not have to believe the truth.

"That is a very good point Mrs Hallow, we think it might be wise if someone came to identity the body" PC Williams suggested knowing as Mrs Hallow said there could have been a mix-up.

"Yes that will be best, the two girls involved look very similar so we don't want a case of mistaken identity" PC Williams told them.

"What happened to the other girl?" Esmeralda asked them curiously.

"She is barely alive but she is alive, she is in a coma right now" one of the officers replied and Esmeralda hoped that she was Ethel, it was a case of mistaken identity, it had to be, she needed it to be.

"Very well can you take us there now?" Mr Hallow asked putting his arm around his wife and the officers nodded.

"I want to come" Esmeralda told them not wanting to be away from her little sister. Mr and Mrs Hallow agreed as they did not have the energy to fight with her but on the condition that she would have to wait outside, the parents did not want to scare their youngest yet if it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity so they left her in the care of the servants and maids, not something they normally would do but they had no time to find someone else at such short notice.

* * *

The family arrived at the hospital and Esmeralda was made to wait outside as her parents went in to identify the body. Sitting down by herself in the waiting room the young teenager's thoughts came into her mind.

She couldn't and would not believe it was Ethel. Her Ethel was alive she had to be, the thought of her not being was way to much for Esmeralda, so she told herself that it was a mistake. Her mother and father would come out of the room saying it was the other girl and though Ethel would be ill she could cope with it because she was still alive and she could see her and before she knew it her sister would be out of hospital. Yes that was right, Ethel was going to be okay.

This was the exact reason the girl was being so calm. She did not believe it, the locket was her sister's but maybe it got pulled off or something, there was a reason for it that made sense and in a minute her parents would come out and tell her that this had all being a horrible dream.

So why were her parents being so long? Ten minutes went by, then fifteen, twenty, with every minute that went by Esmeralda found herself become anxious, could her parents not understand every second was killing her? why were they not coming to reassure her everything would be okay and that it was not her baby sister in there...unless it was because she really was...no Esmeralda told herself don't think it, Ethel was okay she had to be.

Half an hour had gone by and Esmeralda had had enough of waiting and worrying so she stood up preparing to go in herself but just then the door opened and Mr and Mrs Hallow walked out.

They both looked awful to say the least. Red puffy eyes and red noses, clearly they had been crying. Mrs Hallow was holding a tissue which she was holding to her face and Mr Hallow had his arm around her looking like he himself was struggling to lead them both. Esmeralda started to feel physically sick but she told herself they were upset at seeing their daughter in a coma like state that was all.

Her parents walked towards her slowly still crying silently and Esmeralda waited anxiously.

"Darling..." her mother got out as if she could not say anything else.

"It is not true right? It is not Ethel is it?" Esmeralda asked holding on to her last bit of hope.

"I am sorry baby...she...she is gone" her father got out slowly before crying.

Esmeralda's whole world stopped in that moment as she realised it was true and she could not try to deny it to herself anymore. Ethel was really gone, her baby sister, her Ethie. In that moment the reality hit her and suddenly she felt like someone had just hit her with a brick, the room turned fuzzy and her chest was hurting.

"No" the teenager got out feeling her heart physically shatter.

"Baby..." her mother said trying to consult her.

"No...NO!" Esmeralda shouted before she found herself running.

She had no idea where she was going all she knew was she had to get away in that moment, she could hear her parents calling her but she ignored them and just kept running away, running away from the truth.

* * *

She ran for a good few minutes until she realised she had ran straight outside the hospital and stopped running to try and catch her breathe before realising she was about to throw up. She ran to the corner of the building and threw up in some bushes.

The girl had been holding it in for hours but she physically could not anymore. She found herself falling onto her knees before finally allowing herself to burst into tears. As she cried she could hear someone in the background saying her name but she did not look up to see who it was not even when she felt whoever it was put their arms around her, if anything that made her ten times worse.

The girl found herself crying on the legs of whoever this person was, she recognised the voice but her mind was so fuzzy she could not place who it was. The young girl screamed as she cried sobbing her heart out over her little sister.

Esmeralda could not cope with the fact her sister was dead. Ethel was the girl's whole world, she loved that girl more than anything, she had no idea how to live without Ethie there, she needed her there.

"Esmeralda" the girl heard someone say more clearly. She could feel whoever it was pulling on her trying to help her up but Esmie felt like she had lost control of her body, she was much to weak to move, so instead of sitting up the girl flopped back down lying on her stomach on the concrete floor just crying into the ground.

"Ethie" the teenager started to say completely hysterical just wanting her baby sister in that moment. Wanting the girl to appear and tell her she was okay.

"Esmeralda sweetheart, should we go inside?" the familiar voice said. The person was not trying to be mean, they were trying to get her inside because she was lying right in front of the entrance of the hospital and a lot of people were looking at her as if she had just escaped from a mental hospital.

"Ethie, Ethie, ETHIE, ETHIIE, ETHIIIE" the girl shouted getting louder each time she was completely inconsolable as after all her world had just ended. Her worst nightmare was a reality.

The girl was getting a lot of attention, some of the people looking very concerned about her and others rolled their eyes thinking she was having a meltdown because of a boyfriend or something.

Esmeralda's relative did not know what to do. She could not leave her lying on the floor all day screaming and crying but she could not carry the girl, she was too heavy and the thing was the girl did not seem to be calming down.

The girl cried just as much as she had when she started crying struggling to catch her breathe with how worked up she was, still screaming out her little sister's nickname.

Esmeralda was not even aware of the world around her only of the pain she was feeling at that moment, she could not see, she could not hear all she could do was feel, feel the unbearable pain.

Esmeralda did not remember what happened next because suddenly she felt everything going black as the world turned to darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Esmeralda shot awake hearing the sound of thunder outside her window. The teenager was drenched in sweat, her blonde hair stuck to her forehead. The girl sat up looking around and realised she was in her bedroom. Looking at her clock she realised it was three in the morning and it was still dark outside.

"What a horrible nightmare" the girl said her heart beating out of her chest. She sat there for a few moments her chest hurting before she jumped out of bed.

"Ethie!" the girl shouted needing to see her little sister in that moment. She ran in her sister's bedroom and turned on the light wanting to hold her sister after the horrible nightmare she had just had. Her smile dropped as she realised her sister's bed was empty and it clearly had not been slept in.

It was only then the truth came back to the young girl and she remembered what had happened. She sat on the floor crying knowing it had not being a nightmare, she knew it was real because no nightmare could make her feel such a unbearable pain like she was feeling right now.

Her chest ached as she sobbed into her legs feeling the lost of her baby sister all over again. After a few seconds Esmeralda stood up and sat on her sister's bed seeing a doll sat on the bed.

It was a doll their grandmother had given to her when they she was born, all three of them had received one but Ethel was always really attached to hers because she was closest to her grandmother. It was a special doll all the way from America and Ethel absolutely loved that doll, not as much when she was older but she still could not bear to get rid of it. Esmeralda racked her brain and remembered her sister had called her Addy. The doll was special because it looked like her sister, it had blonde hair and blue eyes and was dressed in a purple outfit and Esmeralda took the doll into her arms holding it to her chest, imagining it was her little sister.

"Ethie" the girl said quietly into the silence of the night as she lay on her sister's bed holding the doll to her chest tightly as the thunder sounded overhead.

"Ethie...why did you leave me...Ethie" the teenager said wanting to hear her sister reply. She wanted more than anything to hear a sarcastic reply in that moment.

"Ethie..Ethie" the young girl said before she started crying.

"Ethie...Ethie don't leave me...ETHIE!" the girl shouted out as she cried tortured by the silence that was following as she screamed her sister's name.

The girl cried into the dolls hair badly as she realised she was never going to be able to hug her little sister again.

The girl did not sleep again at all that night, she spent the entire time crying until she heard moment a few hours later and tried to be more quiet but the girl did not move, she wanted to stay in her sister's bed as she felt close to her there, she was still clutching the doll tightly wishing it would turn into her sister.

* * *

About a hour later Esmeralda heard the door open but stayed facing away from the door not wanting to move.

"Esmeralda darling?" someone said sounding worried as they walked into the room.

Esmeralda did not reply she just stayed lying in the bed staring at the wall sadly.

"It's your grandma sweetie" the woman said putting her hands on her granddaughters back. The woman was distraught to over the death of her granddaughter but she knew her oldest granddaughter would be the worse so she had to be strong for her. When Esmeralda did not reply the woman got worried.

"You blackened out yesterday, the doctors said it was the stress, did you manage to get much sleep?" the woman asked her trying to get her granddaughter to show a hint, any hint of her still being with them.

Esmeralda shook her head, all she wanted was to be alone at that moment. Alone with her thoughts.

"Well I am sorry to hear that, but why don't you come downstairs and have some breakfast?" her grandmother suggested knowing the girl had to carry on. It was going to be really hard for her but she had to keep living.

"I am not hungry" Esmeralda replied finally speaking but she sounded very quiet and sad.

"I know it is hard darling but you have to carry on and look after yourself or you will get sick" her grandma told her worried about the girl's mental state.

"Good...I want to be with Ethie" the girl replied tears falling out of her eyes not caring how awful what she just said sounded.

"Don't be silly, your parents need you and so does Sybil we could not bear it if we lost you as well" her Grandma told her. "Come on up we get" her Grandma said forcing the girl up. Esmeralda had fallen silent again as she sat up still clutching the doll in her arms.

* * *

The blonde girl walked down the stairs, her sister's doll still in her arms, the doll was somehow making her feel close to her lost sister. The young girl could not help but notice how eerily quiet it was that morning as she reached the landing.

At the Hallows mornings were never quiet. Ethel and Sybil always, without fail, got into some silly disagreement every morning and would shout at each other for a while until Esmeralda told them to stop. Yes mornings at home were always crazy but today everything was completely quiet as Sybil had lost the person she fought with.

Esmeralda went and sat down in her usual seat which was in the middle next to both her sisters and found herself nearly bursting into tears again at her sister's empty seat but she took a breathe and managed to control herself enough to have a look around the table.

Mr and Mrs Hallow were always rushing around in the mornings and normally used the time to do some last minute work that needed to be done before they started work, of course with what had happened they were not going to work so it was weird to see them not flicking through papers. Mrs Hallow was sat in silence still looking shocked, her eyes were red and she looked tired as if she had not being able to sleep either, Mr Hallow looked pretty much the same as his wife, he had bags under his eyes looking like he got no sleep whatsoever and had spent the entire night awake.

Sybil was always really loud and liked to talk a lot but today the girl was sat in silence playing with her food. The girl had red eyes and a stuffy nose like the rest of her family, playing with her the spoon in her cornflakes but not eating and today their grandparents from their mother's side was there, the older witch and wizard looked very shell shocked and upset as well over their granddaughters death but they knew they had to stay strong for everyone else. They had to support their family.

"Just try to eat a little bit more Sybil" her grandma told the youngest blonde knowing she needed to get her strength up.

Sybil sighed but try to eat more of her breakfast. Esmeralda sat at the table for ten minutes making no attempt to eat, the thought was making her feel sick, she could sense her grandparents watching her but neither of them said anything, she suspected they were letting it slide for now.

After breakfast no-one seemed to know what to do, they all awkwardly sat in the sitting room not speaking until Esmeralda had had enough.

"Can I go now?" the elder girl complained wanting to be alone with her thoughts.

Her grandfather and grandmother looked at each other looking worried about the girl being alone but they both nodded.

* * *

Esmeralda rushed up the stairs back to her sister's room seeing Nightstar, her sister's cat, lying on the bed looking miserable, if it was possible for a cat to look miserable. As Esmeralda entered the room she patted the cat on the head. The cat made a noise before leaning his head on his arm sadly, clearly missing his owner.

"Do you miss her too?" Esmeralda asked stroking the cat's head feeling her eyes becoming wet.

"I am sorry Nightstar..." the girl said before she was overcome with emotion and burst into tears again wanting to go back so she could save Ethie, wanting to take her place, she was sure Ethel could live without her but she could not live without Ethie.

All she wanted was to disappear, to not be able to feel because she knew people would think she would get over it soon enough but Esmeralda knew she would never be happy with Ethel. She would never live probably without Ethel.

* * *

Meanwhile in a hospital, a blonde girl was in a coma and being visited by her family only the father seemed confused.

"This girl...she is not my daughter, my daughter is my world and I know this is not my little Jessie" the man said looking at the girl and knowing it was not his baby. This girl looked similar but it was not her.

"I am sorry sir but she is the only child not accounted for, this must be your daughter" a nurse told him looking at his sympathetically.

"Well ask her, her name she will tell you she is not Jessie" the man told the nurse wanting to know who this girl is.

"I cannot do that sir, the girl is in a coma and even if she wasn't she was brought back from the brink of death, I am sorry to say we suspect this girl has completely lost her memory, the water affected her brain, I really am sorry" the nurse told the man.

The man looked at this girl wondering who she was and who her family was but the man was convinced she was not his daughter.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

It was a week later and today was the funeral for Ethel. People had been told not to wear black because it was for a child and Ethel's favourite colour was purple, so Esmeralda was dressed in purple for her sister. The girl waited upstairs away from her family already struggling to keep herself together until she was told it was time to go.

Esmeralda went down the stairs and out the front door telling herself not to fall apart, not just yet and the girl was okay until the hearse pulled up with her sisters name spelled out in flowers and the girl fell apart again as she got into the car with her family. She cried for a few minutes until her cries turned to sniffs.

"Did you finish your speech?" Sybil asked her older sister quietly knowing her sister had been struggling with her speech for a while.

"Yes, but I am still not happy with it" Esmeralda told her sister. She had been unable to think of anything that sounded right but she could not worry about that now, the car was pulling away taking them to the church.

* * *

Arriving at the church Esmeralda looked around seeing how many people were there, most of the people were their extended family, aunts, uncles, cousins, people Esmeralda had not seen in years and this was not the way she wanted to see them again. Everyone made awkward conversation no-one knowing what to say.

Everyone went and sat in the church waiting for the service to begin and Esmeralda managed to stay strong, even when the coffin was brought in she did not cry, she was determined to not fall apart yet, not until after her speech.

People in the church were crying or sniffing as they listened to the priest, Esmeralda closed her eyes as she listened telling herself not to cry, she couldn't yet.

"We are gathered here today to witness the funeral of a young child who was taken much to soon" the priest went on going through with the mass until he announces the speeches.

* * *

All the immediate Hallow family wanted to give a speech though Esmeralda had no idea what her mother and father were going to say, they barely knew an obvious thing like Ethel's eye colour let alone anything else about the young girl. Mr and Mrs Hallow went up to the stand together neither crying at that time clearly wanting to get through the speech.

"It was no secret Ethel was not the best behaved daughter" Mr Hallow started "And I only wish we could tell you more about her only we do not know much about her" he finished before Mrs Hallow started to talk. "We did not pay as much attention to Ethel as we should have done and that is something we are always going to regret, we wish we could go back in time but we had no idea we were going to lose her" Mrs Hallow said before the two of them went and sat down. Esmeralda looked at them knowing she should feel sorry for them, but they choose to ignore Ethel no-one made them miss their daughter's life.

Sybil then went up to the stand calmly, the girl in much better shape than her older sister. The priest had to get a box for the little girl as she was to small to reach the microphone, Sybil stood on the box before she started talking.

"I miss my sister Ethel because everything is very quiet without her and there is no-one to tease me anymore, Ethel was quite funny when she wanted to be and I will miss joking around with her, I hope Ethel is okay and no longer suffering" Sybil said her short speech. The girl was a child no-one could expect her to write something too long. Their grandma went up hugging Sybil gently before she was joined by their grandfather wanting to give a speech together.

"Ethel was my middle granddaughter and her death is a tragedy to everyone, her parents, her two sisters and everyone who knew her, none of us will ever be the same again because of Ethel's death" their Grandma said before their Granddad took over.

"Ethel was the spitting image of her Grandmother more so than her sisters, she was the only one who looked like her and it hurts me so much I can no longer see the girl growing up looking more like her Grandma everyday" her granddad said sadly before putting his arm around his wife leading her of the stage.

Esmeralda zoned out as she listened to speeches from people who barely knew Ethel, cousins, aunts, uncles and family friends. Esmeralda had specifically asked to give her speech last as she knew the other speeches would be brief and not say much of anything.

Finally it was Esmeralda's turn. Esmeralda stood up walking to the podium trying to ignore the deadly silence. The blonde girl reached into her pocket pulling out a crumbled piece of paper with her speech written on it.

"Ethel was..." Esmeralda started reading from the piece of paper before she stopped. The speech was not right, it was not saying what she wanted or needed to say, for the last week she had thought about what to talk about but it just never would come out right but the young girl decided there and then to speak from her heart not from some crumbled piece of paper.

The girl looked up seeing everyone looking at her looking worried before she picked up the piece of paper and screwed it up. People in the church looked around wondering whether or not this meant she was not giving a speech, she let them wonder for a few seconds before she started to speak.

"I did write a speech but it was all wrong, so I am changing it you see I really could not decide on what I was going to say today, I thought about it for a long time but nothing sounded right but I think I know what I need to say now" Esmeralda started as she looked out at the sad faces looking at her.

"Ethel was known as a troublemaker, I know a lot of people thought she was annoying, a brat, ungrateful and just mean, but Ethel was very closed off and I think I am probably the only person who got to see the real Ethel because my sister was much more than what people thought she was" Esmeralda started to say.

"Ethel was incredibly smart, she would have gone really far with her brains and she was beautiful too, a lot of people might not agree with me there but she was, long blonde hair and bright blue eyes, I never could stay mad at her when she looked at me with them eyes...her eyes...they said so much, a lot of people did not notice it but I could tell, Ethel could be acting happy but her eyes said otherwise, I have lost the amount of times I saw sadness in her eyes, yes Ethel was the master of hiding her true feelings but I always could tell" Esmeralda went on trying to explain her sister was a much different person than most people knew.

"Seeing Ethie was the highlight of my day, I never enjoyed myself more than being with Ethie and I like to think we had a special connection, it was true my sister rejected my love a lot but Ethel was just not good at expressing her feelings" Esmeralda went on not caring how long her speech was or if people understood what she was saying or not.

"What I am trying to say is I am privileged to have been one of the only people who saw the real Ethel Hallow, she was much more than my baby sister, she was my friend as well and even though I wish I had gotten longer with her I am so grateful for the time I did get, words can not describe how much I love and miss her" Esmeralda finished before going and sitting down taking a deep breathe.

* * *

Afterwards people congratulated her on her speech but Esmie was more concerned with the last bit..the actual burial, the girl had been able to hold herself together for the whole day but everyone was gathered around the new dug plot watching as the coffin arrived and started to be lowered down.

That was the moment that the blonde girl lost it, seeing her baby sister going into the ground was to much and everything around her changed. Sound of people talking was blurred and she could not see probably either, she could barely breathe as tears streamed down her face, she only started to come back to reality when she felt someone pulling her. She shook her head realising she was standing by the edge of her sister's grave as if she had been getting ready to jump.

"You can't" the familiar voice of her father said as he tried to drag her away from the edge worried she was about to throw herself in.

"No get off, no" Esmeralda shouted trying to get out of her father's grip.

"Esmie" he replied as if telling her to calm down.

"NO, NO GET OFF ME, ETHIE, I NEED TO BE WITH ETHIE" the young girl screamed wanting nothing more than to be with her little sister. She could not deal with the fact she was about to lose her forever.

"Esmeralda you can't darling" her father told her again struggling to hold onto her as she pushed against him wanting him to let go.

Once the coffin was gone her father started pulling his eldest away knowing they had to get her away from the spot before she did something stupid. The rest of her family helped her father remove her from the spot and they only let go of her when she was safely in the car.

"NO ETHIE, ETHIE" the girl shouted banging on the window trying to find a way out so she could go to her sister.

"Esmeralda calm down" her grandmother said to her as she got into the car seat next to her knowing she should not be alone right now.

The girl looked at her grandma and stopped shouting but she burst into tears leaning her head on her Grandma's shoulder. Her sister was now really gone.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

A few weeks had gone by since the funeral and the family were starting to cope with the young girl's death, of course they would never get over it but they were starting to live again, they had to live after all. The family were eating again and sleeping and had started to show happiness, knowing they could not be miserable forever, but one member of the family was still not coping.

Esmeralda seemed to have fallen into a deep state of depression, the girl spent her days crying, hugging her sister's doll and watching family videos, anything to get to see her sister again, the one she was watching now was from a few summers ago, Esmeralda was twelve, Ethel was ten and Sybil was nine.

* * *

" _Ahh" Ethel said happily holding onto her sister as she gave her a piggyback around their garden._

" _I am literally crazy, when I am older I will have back problems with always carrying you and Sybil around" Esmeralda replied with a smile spinning around and making her sister laugh._

" _Oh don't pretend you don't enjoy it, is it not worth breaking your back for our happiness?" Ethel asked her sister with a laugh._

" _Yes but I do enjoy being able to walk" Esmeralda replied messing with her sister. She wasn't really heavy she was just teasing her._

" _But this is so much fun" Ethel replied happily before noticing something "Look! The apples on the apple tree have grown" the young girl said happily as she noticed._

" _Oh yes, I love apples" Esmeralda said rushing over to the tree, Ethel still on her back._

" _I am going to pick one" Ethel told her sister as she started reaching for the apple on the lowest branch._

" _No Ethie...don't do that" Esmeralda said as she struggled to stay standing with the way her sister was moving. Ethel being Ethel though didn't listen and the two girls ended up falling onto the floor, Ethel on top of Esmeralda, Sybil appeared looking way to happy considering her sisters had just fallen over._

" _Ooo did you fall? Do it again I didn't see!" Sybil said to her sisters who were still lying on the floor laughing their heads off._

" _If I do that again you will lose your sister" Esmeralda replied rubbing her ribs as she stood up._

" _The thing is Sybs, Esmie is very old now so she can't take a tumble without getting hurt now" Ethel replied as she stood up laughing._

" _I am only two years older than you!" Esmeralda replied looking at Ethel_

" _Exactly you are old" Ethel replied teasing Esmie._

" _I am old am I?" Esmeralda replied beaming as she played along "Well I might be 'old' but I am not to old to...chase you!" Esmeralda replied._

 _Ethel screamed and ran off Esmeralda chasing after her, she chased her all around the garden the two girls giggling away until Ethel ran straight into their father and he turned to look at his oldest two annoyed._

" _Will you two stop running around, Esmeralda will you stop acting like a six year old and go and set the table?" her father suggested. Ethel turned to look at her sister stuck her tongue out at her and ran off._

" _Oh I will get you when you don't expect it" Esmeralda told her sister as she left to set the table._

In the present Esmeralda watched the video tears steaming down her face as she clutched Addy. She still missed Ethel so much and for her it was not getting any easier. People told her time healed pain but it was not true in her case.

* * *

The girl's family were really worried about her she still wasn't sleeping or eating properly, she just sat there hugging the doll in silence whenever she had to be with her family and it was getting worse, Cackle's Academy was opening in a few days and Esmeralda could not get the thought of her sister's absence of her mind.

"Esmeralda sweetheart come on you have to eat" her grandma told her worried about how the weight was dropping of her eldest granddaughter. The girl just sat there playing with her food.

"I am not hungry" Esmeralda told her grandma honestly. She never felt hungry anymore not since her sister had died.

"I know darling but you have to eat" her granddad replied also really worried about the girl's well-being.

Esmeralda did not reply but held on to the doll in her arms tighter. Sometimes when she closed her eyes it felt like it was Ethel hugging her and not a doll.

"Esmie sweetie...I think you are a little old to be playing with dolls" Mrs Hallow told her daughter gently. She was worried about her because she had been carrying the doll everywhere for the last few weeks.

"But it makes me feel close to Ethie" Esmeralda replied sadly.

"It is just a doll, it is not Ethel" Mr Hallow told her worried she was getting confused in her grief and thought the doll was her sister.

"I know that father" Esmeralda replied quietly as she did not feel like talking to anyone. Everyone else fell silent just listening.

"Darling, I know you miss her, we all miss her but the doll is not going to make her come back" Mrs Hallow told her eldest. She was worried about the girl being bullied for carrying a doll around with her.

"Miss her? You miss her?" Esmeralda started to say angrily.

"Now why don't we all cal..." Their grandma started to say before she was interrupted.

"Of course we miss her" Mr Hallow replied amazed his daughter would think otherwise.

"How the hell can you miss her? You never bothered with her when she was alive so what is there exactly for you to miss?" Esmeralda asked, her grieving making her temper higher.

"Esmeralda we always loved her" Mrs Hallow told her daughter.

"Oh really? Then why did you treat her so badly? You don't treat someone you love like that, you know she was not happy, she had not been happy for a long time and it is all because of you!" Esmeralda shouted at her parents.

"Esmie we already regret the way we treated her" Mrs Hallow told her truly regretting missing her daughter's life because of the way they treated her.

"Good you should feel guilty, you treated her horribly" Esmeralda shouted back.

"Esmie the thing is.." Mrs Hallow started to say but Esmie interrupted her.

"No I don't want to hear it, Ethie was my world and just because you did not care for her did not mean I didn't, don't you dare tell me you know how I feel, you have no idea how I feel because Ethie was not important to you" Esmeralda yelled tears streaming down her face.

"We know you were very close to her sweetie but you have to try moving on, you can't spend the rest of your life like this" Mr Hallow replied really concerned about how much the girl was going downhill.

"Oh yeah?" Esmeralda replied still crying knowing no-one understood how she felt "Just watch me" the girl said standing up and rushing out the room, up the stairs and storming into her bedroom before she sat behind her door and cried.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Ada Cackle, Headmistress at Cackle's Academy, walked around her desk and collapsed into her chair happy the first day of term was finally over, as she sat down there was a small popping noise and Hecate Hardbroom, the deputy headmistress, appeared with her arms folded.

"Good evening Headmistress" Hecate said politely.

"Good evening Hecate, have the first years settled down yet?" Ada asked knowing the new students always took a while to settle in.

"As well as can be expected for now, have you heard anything from The Hallows yet?" Hecate asked the older woman curiously.

Ada sighed and shook her head before she replied "No, I must say this is most unusual, Esmeralda, Ethel and Sybil are normally some of the first pupils to arrive" Ada replied not understanding why there girls were not there.

"Yes and as Headgirl Esmeralda was meant to help with the new pupils, she has never not done her duties before" Hecate replied also completely confused about why the sisters had not turned up for the first day of term.

"I must say I am deeply concerned, the family has been attending this school for three generations and something like this has never being documented as happening before" Ada replied deeply concerned about her pupils' absence.

"What are you going to do Headmistress?" Hecate asked wondering what plan of action the woman thought to take.

Ada stood up and walked to the corner of the room, picking up a pink coat and putting it on over her woolly pink jumper before she replied.

"It is still fairly early so I think I will go and visit the family and make sure everything is in order, will you be alright for a couple of hours?" Ada asked her deputy.

"Of course I will Ada, take your time the school is in good hands" Hecate replied using the much softer voice she reserved for Ada.

"I know it is Hecate I trust you, I will let you know as soon as I have any news" Ada told the woman before she transferred to outside the castle, made her broomstick magically appear into her hands and took off into the sky.

* * *

Arriving at the Hallows residence after her journey, Ada walked up to the front door taking in the magnificent mansion, the women knew the family was very rich but seeing the house in person was much different, after a few seconds at just gawping at the beautiful building the woman knocked on the front door and waited.

A few seconds later, the door opened to reveal a professional looking man wearing a suit.

"May I help you?" the man asked the stranger.

"Hello there, I am Ada Cackle, the young girls' headmistress I was wondering if it would be possible to speak to Mr and Mrs Hallow?" Ada replied telling the man who she was and why she was here. The man nodded and opened the door.

"Please come in" the man said. Ada stepped inside the amazing huge hallway trying to take it all in.

"Wait here a moment please, I will inform them that you are here" the man said as he left leaving Ada in the hall. A few moments later he returned asking the woman to follow him, he led her into a sitting area where Mr and Mrs Hallow were both sat, Ada walked over to them.

"Well met" Ada said touching her forehead as the other two adults did the same "I am so sorry to intrude I was just very worried when the girls did not turn up at school this morning so I wanted to make sure everything is okay" Ada said getting to the point as to why she had come to see them.

Mr and Mrs Hallow looked at each other awkwardly, they knew they had to tell her but it was difficult.

"Miss Cackle, we thank you for your concern, the reason the girls did not return to school today is because well...Ethel died during the summer" Mr Hallow told the woman getting right to the point as to why the girls had been absent.

An overwhelming feeling of sadness overcame Ada in that moment, Ethel was trouble but she was one of her pupils and she cared about her and not only that it made no sense, the girl had been fine and healthy last time she had checked what on earth had happened to her?

"I am sorry I think I misunderstood" Ada replied unable to believe the words she had just heard.

"I am sorry to tell you it is true, Ethel drowned in a horrible accident" Mrs Hallow replied, It was getting easier to talk about but she still looked very upset.

Ada had expected a lot of things when she arrived, maybe one of the girls was ill, but one died? It was almost too much Ada sat there for a few moments longer in shock before she finally spoke "Oh my...I am so sorry, I do not have words" Ada replied not sure what she could say to the grieving parents.

"We know, it is okay we know what you mean" Mr Hallow replied having got used to the way people did not know what to say to them.

"How are Esmeralda and Sybil?" Ada asked even though she knew it was a stupid question.

"Sybil is very upset but she is getting there, she is starting to eat and sleep again, Esmeralda is..." Mrs Hallow started to say. She had no idea how to describe Esmeralda's condition.

"Esmeralda is what?" Ada asked her voice full of concern.

"Maybe it will be easier to show you" Mr Hallow said leading the woman to a door on the right which appeared to be another sitting area.

Esmeralda was lying on the carpeted floor clutching the doll in one hand and in the other clutching the necklace around her neck the police had returned that morning, the locket Ethel had been found with.

As she watched Esmeralda suddenly covered her face and started to cry into her hands, literally crying on the floor.

"She has been like this since the day Ethel died, she just lies on the floor crying and pretty much does nothing else" Mrs Hallow told the other woman.

Ada was incredibly sad to see her strong, hard-working, happy star pupil so distraught that she could not even get of the floor but she knew it made sense. Ada had known it since Ethel's selection day, pretty much from the very moment she met Ethel, that Ethel was the most important person in Esmeralda's life, that the girl was her world. She had known it instantly as she saw the girl run to hug her sister,her eyes lighting up in a way she had never seen before not even with Sybil the year after. Esmeralda falling apart was therefore not a shock to Ada.

"Poor dear, it is going to be very hard for her to adjust" Ada replied after she had seen the state her pupil was in.

"Yes, I do have to say though I am worried about how much she is going downhill" Mr Hallow replied as the three adults went and sat back down. Ada agreed with him there girl's state was worrying.

"May I make a suggestion?" Ada asked them not wanting them to think she was imposing.

"Yes of course" Mrs Hallow replied at her wits end about how to help her eldest so was willing to hear any suggestion.

"Maybe it will be better for the girls to return to school sooner rather than later, when they are at home they are tortured with the reminder of their sisters death and have nothing to distract them from that, but at school they have lessons and extra curricular activities and I think it might help Esmeralda to have some distraction from Ethel's death" Ada suggested really thinking the girls will benefit from the familiarity of school and all the distractions that came from it.

Mr and Mrs Hallow looked at each other and knew the woman was right. At home everything was a reminder of Ethel and the sisters had no way of escaping from it as everyone in the house was grieving as well.

"You know I think you might be right" Mr Hallow replied.

"Of course we will give both girls all the help and support they need" Ada reassured the parents that they would be in good hands.

The parents nodded trusting Ada with what she had said before Mrs Hallow started to talk.

"When do you think would be best for them to return?" Mrs Hallow asked the teacher.

"I would leave it a few weeks, things are always hectic the first few weeks let everything settle down a bit first so we can get the girls back in the school without any drama" Ada suggested to them.

"That sounds plausible" Mr Hallow replied liking the idea.

* * *

The three adults spoke a bit longer until Ada got up to leave knowing it was not fair to leave Hecate alone on the first day.

"Thank you for coming over" Mr and Mrs Hallow said as they saw her out.

Ada left and made her broomstick appear in her hands but not before she had let a few tears fall, she was really upset about the girls death but she had been hiding it from the grieving family not wanting to make it worse. Now she had to go to the school and make sure everyone knew but how she was going to put it into words she had no idea.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Students murmured quietly amongst themselves all very curious as to why they had been called to a emergency assembly, this had never happened before that any of them could remember, the third years including Mildred and her friends were all sat in the middle row curious.

"Why did Cackle and HB call an emergency assembly?" Enid asked her friends.

"Beats me, maybe Agatha is somehow back" Mildred replied with her guess.

"Or Gullet, that would be just as bad" Maud replied as she adjusted her glasses.

"You three be quiet!" HB shouted at them but all three girls noticed she seemed a bit down today, she was not being as deadly in tone as normal. Everyone in the hall fell silent and Ada stood at the front of the stage before she started to talk.

"Good morning girls" Ada said trying to keep her tone normal.

"Good morning Miss Cackle" the girls chanted back all wondering why they were here.

"Girls I am afraid I have some very bad news" Ada started sadly knowing she had to tell the girls. Everyone just looked at her curious as to what could be so important she had called a whole assembly.

"As I assume many of you have realised the Hallow sisters have not returned to school this year" Ada started getting closer to telling them.

Mildred and her friends looked at each other. When they had realised Ethel had not returned they had assumed she had being expelled or sent elsewhere by her parents to try and make her behave but then the girls had realised Esmeralda and Sybil had also not returned but no-one seemed to know why, no-one had heard from them.

"Yesterday I was worried about this so I went to visit and I am afraid I found out some tragic news, there was an accident during the summer" Ada started to say trying to put of telling them the awful part.

Girls started talking when they heard this, who was involved? Were they in a coma? Paralysed?. Though no girl thought about death, it did not spring to their mind.

Hecate clapped her hands and everyone felt silent again.

"Girls we have lost a member of our school, I am sorry to have to be the one to tell you that Ethel Hallow...passed away in a tragic drowning" Ada said trying but failing to keep the sadness out of her voice.

After these words were said there was complete and utter silence, no-one spoke to shocked, to confused to say anything.

"I know this is hard to take in but I am afraid it is the truth" Ada carried on wanting some reaction.

Slowly students started crying which surprised Ada, Ethel had never exactly being the most popular person in the school. Other pupils just looked shell shocked.

"Esmeralda and Sybil will be returning to school in two weeks which is the reason I am telling you all, so that you understand the two other girls are grieving, I want you all to be especially nice to the other two girls as they will need a lot of support" Ada told her pupils wanting Esmeralda and Sybil to have a easy return to school.

"Assembly is over, you may all go" Ada told her pupils who all started to leave quietly except for people sniffing and crying, Ada happened to glance over and was surprised to see Mildred Hubble of all people in tears.

Mildred had no idea why she was so upset, she despised Ethel but deep down she felt the two of them had had a special connection and Ethel gone, her rival, was to much, she had never wanted this to happen. She was lying to herself if she said she hated Ethel and wanted her dead because she didn't. The two girls might not have got on but Mildred was still upset. Mildred walked near to the stage tears still streaming before she spoke.

"Miss?" Mildred said through her tears.

"Yes Mildred?" Ada asked in a sad way looking at the dark-haired girl.

"I was just wondering...can I make a card for her?" Mildred asked as more tears fell.

Ada was surprised the girl wanted to but was also touched the girl wanted to so nodded.

"I think that would be very nice Mildred, why don't you get everyone to sign it? I think that will really help Esmeralda and Sybil" Ada told the girl gently. She knew a card would not do much but it might help the girls to know people were thinking about them.

"I hope so Miss" Mildred said as she walked off to join her friends the three girls in tears.

* * *

Two weeks later Esmeralda and Sybil were returning to Cackles, that morning the two girls were invited into Ada's office and whereas Sybil looked healthy, upset but clearly healthy, Ada was shocked by the sight of her headgirl, she had not being able to see her properly when she was lying on the floor when she had visited so Ada had not realised how bad a state the girl actually was in.

The girl, whose hair normally was pulled back into a neat style now looked like she had not even made any attempt, it looked like she had thrown her hair into a ponytail in five seconds without brushing it as her hair was a mess, her eyes were red raw as if she had not stopped crying in weeks which Ada knew she hadn't, the girl looked lost and completely miserable and was clutching onto a doll for dear life.

All this was worrying to Ada but the thing that was really worrying to the woman was the girl's weight, it looked like the girl had lost a lot of weight and was becoming dangerously skinny, Ada had remembered that the girl had not being eating and knew it was something they had to work on, therefore Ada hid her shock.

"Hello girls come and sit down" Ada told them, the two girls sat down and Hecate glanced at Ada telling her without words that she was worried about the eldest. Ada nodded telling her she agreed and then went and sat in front of the girls.

"We are so glad you have returned to us and I am sure everyone is going to be so happy to see you" Ada told the girls nicely really trying not to mention anything about Ethel. Esmeralda looked like she was about to burst into tears.

"Now we are going to help you both to catch up as best as we can but just ask if you need anything" Ada told the girls.

"Miss, do we have to have counselling?" Sybil asked her headteacher. Ada turned to look at the younger girl.

"Yes dear we are going to be arranging that I think it will benefit both of you" Ada told her kindly. She had already arranged bereavement counselling for both girls.

"Miss does everyone know about...my sister?" Sybil asked quietly not wanting to say 'Ethel's death'.

Ada sighed to herself and then nodded "Yes dear, I thought it would be best to tell them" Ada replied.

"Do you have anything to ask Esmeralda?" Ada asked turning her attention to the oldest wanting her to talk and show she was not totally zoned out.

Esmeralda was looking out the window and did not even acknowledge the woman and Ada did not want to push her.

"Let's get you both settled back in" Ada said to them gently with a smile trying to make them feel at ease and trying to put her worries aside.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

The mysterious blonde girl's DNA had proved she was not Jessie the missing girl but now that this was known everyone was confused as to who she was and could find no records of any family or friends to contact.

The young girl had now woken from her coma but her memory had completely gone, the girl could not even remember her own name so the young girl was placed in a foster home as police tried to find her identity. As the girl did not remember her name she was given the name Jennifer.

"Jennifer honey what are you doing?" her foster mother asked. She was a sweet older woman with dark hair, her name was Emily.

"What is that place over there?" Jennifer replied referring to the building across the way from where she was living.

"Oh that is a boarding school" Emily replied kindly as she explained to the girl what it was.

"Can I go to school?" Jennifer asked. She had only being at the house with Emily and her foster dad, a tall man with sandy coloured hair and dark eyes named Norman for two weeks but the girl was already bored. She was the only child in the house and was desperate to meet someone else her age.

"Not yet sweetie, we need to wait until you are well enough, you are still suffering affects from your accident, plus that is a school for troubled teenagers who need a little extra support so you wouldn't be going there" Emily told the girl feeling sorry for the girl for being stuck in the house alone.

"Emily, Jennifer, lunch!" Norman shouted to the girls. Emily smiled and wrapped her arms around the girls shoulder leading her away from the window and towards the kitchen so they could eat.

* * *

Back at Cackle's Esmeralda and Sybil had been taken to their rooms and had unpacked which took the best part of the morning and it was now breaktime as the girls emerged. Esmie and Sybil walked down the corridor their arms around each other as they walked in silence down the packed corridor. For once, Esmeralda was not carrying the doll as she had been told she was not allowed to carry it around.

As the girls walked people stopped talking and looked at them but no-one said anything. They had no idea what to say and did not want to make it worse so most of them just smiled awkwardly at them. Mildred and her friends Maud and Enid were in the corridor too and as the two girls got closer to them Mildred started to talk.

"Why is everyone avoiding them like the plague?" Mildred asked her two friends as she saw the way the girls were being avoided.

"Because no-one knows what to say I mean you can't go up to them and say 'Oh I am sorry about your sister's death even though we didn't exactly like her anyway" Enid replied logically as she knew the girl had not being popular.

"She does have a point Mil, it would be really hypocritical for someone to do that" Maud replied.

Mildred glanced up them and saw that the girls looked in a state, not that she was really suprised.

"They look awful" Mildred commented with a sigh.

"Well of course they do, they are grieving" Maud replied explaining the reasoning behind that.

"I am going to give them my card" Mildred told her friends as she started to walk to the two girls. By this point the rest of the pupils had gone back to talking so no-one paid much attention to them.

Maud and Enid followed behind Mildred, they really weren't sure how Esmeralda and Sybil would react to being spoken to, grief was a strange thing and some people displayed anger.

* * *

"Hello Esmeralda, Hello Sybil" Mildred said quietly to the two girls.

"Hi Mildred" Sybil said forcing a small smile. Esmeralda stared at the ground not even acknowledging them. Mildred suddenly felt really awkward.

"Erm I made this for you I know it is not much but I wanted to do something" Mildred said presenting her card which Sybil took. Mildred saw out of the corner of her eye that Esmeralda had glanced up to look at the card.

The card had a drawing on it of a flower (Mildred had looked at cards as an example and saw a lot had a flower on them). She had drew it herself though it was not her best work.

"Everyone has signed it" Mildred told the sisters as Sybil opened the card and saw all the different messages inside it from the students of the school and Sybil looked up smiling a little as she was touched.

"Thank you Mildred this is so nice" Sybil told her. Mildred beamed at the girl happy she had given her a little bit of happiness. Sybil looked at her sister and handed it to her also trying to coax her into interacting.

"Look isn't it nice Esmie?" Sybil asked her sister.

Esmeralda stared at the card but did not respond. This was making Mildred nervous as she did not know what to say for the best when the girl looked like she was on the verge of a complete mental breakdown.

"I drew the flower myself" Mildred replied also trying to get the girl to talk, to show some emotion at least. Mildred gulped as the girl just stared at the card not able to make out if she was touched or outraged by it.

"Sorry that the flower is a bit lopsided" Mildred started to say "I know that my usual drawings are much better but my hand was really shaky as Cackle had just told us about Ethel's death" Mildred told Esmeralda stupidly.

"Mildred" Enid hissed trying to shut her friend up as she knew she was making the situation a million times worse.

"I was so upset about her death, I cried for ages, and I know we are supposed to be enemies but I didn't hate her, not really" Mildred carried on putting her foot in it.

"Mildred, just stop talking" Maud told her friend as she covered her face not even wanting to see Esmeralda's reaction.

Esmeralda's face crumpled as Mildred finished talking and tears streamed out of her eyes before she ripped the card into pieces and threw it on the floor before running off.

"Hey that took me hours!" Mildred replied upset her hard work had gone to waste. Maud picked up the pieces with a sigh.

"I am sure we can fix it so it is as good as new" the girl with glasses told her friend. Mildred touched her head.

"I am so so stupid" Mildred replied as she replayed the conversation in her head.

"You are not stupid Mil, though it was stupid for you to keep talking, could you of reminded her of her sister's death anymore if you tried?" Enid asked her friend.

"I didn't mean to, what do you say to someone who has lost their sister? It came out wrong, and now I have upset her, grr why do I always make everything worse?" Mildred replied feeling guilty.

"It isn't your fault Mildred" Sybil replied quitety as she heard the girl blaming herself for everything.

"That is nice of you to say Sybil but it is, if I had not said that stuff Esmeralda would not have gotten upset" Mildred replied trying to figure out how she could have been so stupid.

"Not really, it was bound to happen, I said good morning to Esmie yesterday and she burst into tears just at that, anything is setting her off right now her emotions are all over the place" Sybil replied not wanting the girl to feel bad as she liked Mildred and knew her sister would of being set of one way or another anyway.

Mildred sighed trying to think what Esmeralda was going through but she had never had a sister so she couldn't relate, then she thought of how she would feel if it had been her mother and knew she would be just as bad as the elder sister, after all she absolutely adored Ethel, something people tried to work out the reasons for but whatever the reasons were she loved her so much, she was the person who loved Ethel the most in the world so it hit her the hardest of course.

"Should we go after her?" Maud asked sending Mildred out of her thoughts.

"No, she is inconsolable when she is like this there is no point" Sybil replied with a shrug.

Mildred felt sorry for the older girl, after all the eldest had always gone out of her way to be nice to her when she didn't have to and Mildred wanted to repay her kindness by looking after Sybil as her sister was preoccupied.

"Come on Sybil you can stay with us" Mildred told the younger girl putting her arm around her as they all walked down the corridor, Mildred wishing more than anything Ethel would appear and yell at her for talking to Sybil.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I want to apologise. I have just realised my word programme has being changing Esmerelda name to 'Esmeralda' all this time so now all my stories have her name wrong. I will be changing my one-shots but I have to many multi-chapter stories to change them now but from here on out I will be spelling her name right.

* * *

Chapter Nine

If Ada had thought that Esmerelda would start to recover once she was back at the school the woman was very wrong because in fact if anything the girl started to get worst.

Esmerelda was known as a exceptional well behaved student. She was the last person anyone would suspect to do anything that would get herself into trouble. The girl was a teenager but she had never acted like a normal teenager, she stayed away from dangerous habits like smoking and drinking but she was struggling to cope with her grief and it was making her careless.

The thing was at home Esmerelda was constantly being watched but it was pretty much impossible for teachers in the school to be able to watch the teenager 24/7 which is how she was able to start doing dangerous things.

* * *

A few days after she had returned to school Esmie was having an awful day. Of course, she was never happy anymore and all her days were awful but what she had been through today was making everything worse. She had always prided herself on her work and getting good grades and being a good witch but now nothing was going right.

It is like she could not remember anything, she couldn't remember simple potions or spells, everytime she tried even a spell a eight year old witch knew she couldn't do it and she could not stay on her broomstick for longer than two seconds without falling off. In the non-magical world there was a saying 'you never forget how to ride a bike' and in the witching world that saying was 'you never forget how to ride a broomstick' but Esmerelda now knew that was a load of rubbish because she had definitely forgotten how to ride a broomstick.

The girl stormed into her room feeling like the one thing that kept her going, the one thing that was still the same had now gone, she bit her nails nervously a habit she had recently taken up before she picked up the book of her bed she had been reading, looked at it and threw it. The hardback book hit the wall then fell on top of her shelve and knocked over many of her possessions including a photo frame which fell to the floor shattering to pieces.

Esmerelda ran over and picked the smashed frame up and stupidly started pulling at the picture without clearing the glass desperate to rescue the picture which had her late sister in it and in the process the young girl sliced her hand on the glass.

The girl dropped the frame on the floor again as her hand started bleeding but then she started having a strange feeling. She liked seeing the blood on her hand and of course the cut was painful but in a strange way it was a good pain, it was a good pain that she could not even explain. All she knew in that moment was she felt calmer and less depressed than she had since the day Ethel had died which is how the girl started the dangerous habit.

She watched her hand bleeding and realised she needed more, she needed to feel that sense of relief more so she picked up one of the broken pieces of glass that had smashed with the frame and rolled up the sleeve of her grey school blouse before pushing the glass into her arm and running it downwards a little.

Her arm started bleeding as the cut appeared and she suddenly felt so much better like all her worries were fading for a little while. That was how the girl started on her loud road of self-destruction.

* * *

People were worried about the girl though, she still was not eating and it was clear she was starting to become very dangerously thin, Ada was so worried she had asked the kitchen staff to make the teenager different food knowing that if the girl was struggling to eat having to eat school rubbish was only going to put her off more, but the girl would not touch it, she didn't even attempt to touch it or hide the fact she was not eating. No-one knew what to do to help her even though they knew it was becoming a big problem.

It was not just the fact Esmerelda had stopped eating that worried the teachers it was the fact the girl seemed determined, and seemed to get some sort of thrill, from putting herself into dangerous situations and hurting herself.

She stopped concentrating whilst flying and was constantly falling off her broomstick but Hecate was not daft, she had been watching the girl and saw her waiting for everyone to turn away before leaning over further to fall, she didn't fall from very high but the girl still ended up bruised.

Then there was other times when the girl had ended up sitting in the middle of the road which had happened a few times now. Esmerelda had thought a few times about ending it all but she knew in the back of her mind Ethel would not want her to do that, Ethel would not want her to kill herself and that was the only thing that would make the girl stand up and run out of the way before she got hit, though she still liked the rush and a few times the teachers had had to physically remove her from the road after a worried pupil had told them she was sitting on the road, if only Ada and the other teachers had known her behaviour was about to get worse.

* * *

It was late at night and Esmerelda was spending another day tossing and turning in bed, she rolled over and hissed as she landed on one of her cuts and was just about to turn back over when she heard a noise, the young girl got out of bed and walked out of her bedroom door seeing Cackle and HB rounding the corridor deep in conversation, wherever the two women were going they seemed in a hurry because they were walking fast down the corridor. Esmerelda looked around and started to follow them quietly making sure to keep a safe distance from the two teachers.

She followed them until the two women walked into Miss Cackle's office and closed the door. Esmerelda opened the door a crack wanting to see what they were doing. She saw the two women sitting at a desk as Ada poured a small glass of liquid into a glass.

"I am glad this day is over" Ada told her deputy drinking the drink in her glass. It was such a tiny amount that Esmerelda was wondering if it was alcohol and that is why she could not drink more, as of course she was running a school.

"Yes so am I, it has been a crazy few days" Hecate replied also drinking from a tiny glass.

Ada finished her drink and put the empty glass on her desk with a sigh.

"Shame we can't drink anymore during term time, it always helps to have a drink to relax" Ada said to Hecate.

"Yes, the perfect end to a stressful day" Hecate replied drinking the last of her glass. "Come on Ada we best go up" Hecate told the older woman who nodded and then opened a compartment behind a photo frame, Esmie looked closer as she imputed the code and then ran out of the way as she saw the two women leaving.

The teenager waited a few moments after they had gone and then sneaked into Ada's office thankful to find it unlocked before she walked to the picture and pulled it off the wall seeing a safe, Esmie imputed the code she had seen and then it opened and she smiled.

The young troubled girl picked up the bottle she had seen the women drinking from and saw two other bottles of alcohol in there, in the dim light Esmerelda could not make out what type of alcohol they were but the girl did not care. She had heard people say that alcohol helped you forget your worries and she could not wait to try it. She took the three bottles and rushed back to her room with them.

* * *

Jennifer had had a bad day too and was also tossing and turning, people had come round to visit trying to help her remember anything about her past life but she just couldn't remember anything. Her mind was a foggy mess, the girl could not even remember the accident let alone anything else. It was driving her insane, had she had siblings? Was she from a single parent home? Where had she lived? She had so many questions and no-one could give her the answer to them but before she had been sent to bed her foster mother Emily had given her something to think about.

Emily was going out that evening to see her sister and leaving Jennifer with her foster dad, Warren. Emily's sister was not allowed to see Jennifer as her case was very unique and they had been keeping it under wraps so very few people knew the circumstances, as the woman kissed her goodbye Jennifer made a comment.

"I wish I had a sister too" Jennifer said thinking it would be really cool to of had a sister.

"Mmm well you never know maybe you did, we don't know anything about your past life maybe you had a sister then, or maybe even two or three" Emily told the girl logically.

Jennifer strained her mind at that trying to remember something, her playing with another child or any past sisters but she could think of nothing. Her mind was blank.

"Maybe, but if I did have a sister I would want an older one, I don't want to be the oldest because being the oldest means you have to do more things" Jennifer replied as Emily chuckled.

"Yes that is true, or do you only want a sister to get out of doing the dishes?" Emily asked remembering she had told the girl to do it an hour ago and she still hadn't.

"Exactly, if I had an older sister that would be her job" Jennifer replied.

"Well considering we have no idea whether you have one or not right now it is your responsibility" Emily told her foster daughter as she pointed to the sink, Jennifer sighed and walked to the sink starting her chore.

"I will see you later" Emily told her as she finally left.

Jennifer could not get that moment out of her mind whilst she tried to sleep, just the thought that somewhere out there she could have a sister, or even a brother, the thought made the young blonde happy because she really hated to be alone and if they were out there she hoped they found her soon.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Esmerelda had taken the bottle of drink to her bedroom and then spent the rest of the night drinking, she had never actually drank alcohol before so when she first took a sip she gagged at the strong taste but she liked the burning feeling at the back of a throat so carried on drinking waiting to feel her mind go blank. By the time it was daylight the girl had drank two bottles of the stuff and was drunk out of her mind.

"Good morning your greatness what a pleasure it is to see you today" Ada said to the Grand Wizard who had come on another visit.

"Always a pleasure to be here Miss Cackle" the Great Wizard replied happily "I am looking forward to the choir's singing this afternoon" he told the woman. The school choir was going to be singing for the wizard at exactly twelve and he was very much looking forward to it.

"It is our pleasure your greatness" Ada told the man happily.

Esmerelda was fed up of lying on her bed and doing nothing so she stood up not bothering to dress into her uniform, she had no lessons anyway so it was not such a big deal. As Esmerelda opened her bedroom door she saw a taped note on the door and tried to remember how to read the words written on it

 _The Great Wizard is visiting!_

 _Make sure you are ready for at least twelve_

 _the entire school has to go to the choir performance_

 _See you soon_

 _Sybil x_

* * *

Esmerelda moaned touching her sore head as she staggered out the door barely able to stop herself falling over but despite this the girl liked the affect...she couldn't remember anything, her mind was completely blank, for the first time she was not miserable thinking about Ethel's death because she could not even remember it happening.

The girl staggered to the top of the stairs and fell down them unable to manage the stairs in her drunken state, she laughed to herself as she lay on the floor wondering if she should bother getting up. That was when she heard singing, the noise was making her head pound so she held onto the wall and forced herself into a standing position before she went and started to stagger towards the irritating noise.

* * *

Ada had realised her head girl had not shown up to the days festivities but the girl was grieving so she was letting it slide, she couldn't push the girl she was already struggling enough as it is so she had made an excuse to the wizard and no-one had really mentioned it.

The students had started to sing and everyone was listening enjoying the beautiful noise so no-one noticed when Esmerelda staggered through the door still dressed in her pyjamas. She walked further into the room before she was close enough for all the students to hear.

"Will you lot shut upppp, my head is poundingggg.." the blonde girl told everyone really slurring her words a lot making it so no-one could understand what she was saying. Everyone who was singing stopped and just looked at the girl with wide eyes as they realised the state she was in.

"What are youuuuu alll looking attt?" Esmie slurred looking around the room confused as to why everyone was staring at her like that.

"Erm Esmie...are you okay?" Sybil asked pushing through the crowd to get to her sister worried.

When Esmerelda saw her she had a strange reaction the alcohol making it so she could not even tell that it was her youngest sister talking all she was focusing on was the blonde hair.

"Ethie...I love you Ethie.." she slurred happily everyone looked around sadly no-one wanting to be the one to tell her Ethel was in fact dead and she was talking to Sybil.

"Esmie it is Sybil not Ethel" Sybil replied knowing her sister was so confused.

"ETHIE" The young girl shouted as she started to run towards the girl with her arms out but of course the fact she was so drunk made her unsteady and she fell after only a few steps crashing into everyone on the stage.

If this had been any other time people probably would have laughed at her but no-one laughed this time as no-one thought it was funny to laugh at a grieving teenager who had drank herself to the point that she could not even stand just to forget what had happened to her sister.

However, the Grand Wizard was not aware of the situation so when Ada and Hecate rushed to help the girl up he was not amused.

"Miss Cackle, do you always allow your pupils to wonder around school completely drunk out of their minds?" he asked her his face literally red from anger.

"No of course not your greatness I have no idea where she got hold of the drink" Ada replied leading the girl towards the door and trying to stop her from falling again.

"Hang on a second" the Grand Wizard replied as a huge realisation came over him as to who Esmerelda was.

"This child...isn't she headgirl?" the man asked his face if anything getting more red as he came to this realisation. The girl after all was supposed to be an example.

"Yes your Greatness...but.." Ada started to say to him.

"What kind of school are you running here?" He shouted angrily

"I assure you your honour this is completely out of character" Ada told him highly embarrassed about this whole situation.

Esmerelda suddenly felt a funny feeling in her stomach she was about to throw up she could sense it.

"This is an outrage, I gave you another chance and this is what I see when I visit?" the man carried on thinking he had made a mistake keeping Ada as head.

Esmerelda could not hold it in anymore as the wizard finished talking she suddenly threw up on him. Everyone around gasped and closed their eyes not even wanting to see his reaction.

"Your Greatness, I am so sorry" Ada replied seeing the look on his face. Utter outrage.

"Miss Drill, please take Esmerelda for some fresh air" Ada told her as Miss Drill took over and Ada rushed to help the wizard.

* * *

Ada rushed the Great Wizard into her office, it had not taken long to clean his robes with a few spells but she could tell that the man was still fuming.

"Miss Cackle do you have an explanation for this?" he asked her angrily.

"Your Greatness I can only apologise, there girl is grieving right now, one of her sisters passed away during the summer and she is really not coping with it" Ada explained. She had not wanted to tell him but knew it was time to explain what was going on.

The man looked confused for a second before nodding "I thought there was three of them here last year but I thought I was just mistaken" he replied to the woman.

"Unfortunately you are not your Greatness, Ethel Hallow, the middle child died in an accident, Esmerelda has been all over the place but I have no idea how she got hold of alcohol" Hecate replied trying to help Ada.

"Miss Cackle as headmistress it is your job to know what your pupils are up to and to keep an eye on them" he told her. He felt sorry for the girl but knew she should not have been allowed to get so drunk, someone should have been watching her especially if they knew she was not coping.

"I know your honour I can only apologise it will not happen again" Ada replied feeling very annoyed.

* * *

After a lot of apologising the Wizard had left luckily letting Ada keep her job, he was not happy at all and Ada had been put on a warning. When he had gone Ada walked into Esmerelda's bedroom and saw she was asleep with Miss Drill and Sybil sitting by her.

"How is she?" Ada asked the other teacher concerned.

"She is alright now, she was really upset a while ago when she remembered Ethel is...you know but I managed to sneak her a sleeping draught" the teacher admitted. Normally teachers would not do that but the girl had been hysterical.

Ada sighed. She knew she would have to discipline the girl but she couldn't totally lose it at her she was after all suffering, Ada had no idea what she would have done if she had been in Esmerelda's and Sybil's boat with Agatha, she was not sure she would have coped either.

"Thank you why don't we leave the girl to sleep I will come and visit in a few hours" Ada told the teacher and the other pupil knowing the girl needed rest.

"Can I stay miss?" Sybil asked her "I will be quiet" Sybil then said really wanting to stay. Ada thought maybe it was a good idea to have someone with the girl in case she fell out of bed or something.

"Alright, I will be along later Sybil" Ada said as she left.

Sybil sat next to her sister and quietly cried to herself feeling like she had lost both her sisters completely instead of just Ethel, in a way the youngster had lost her eldest sister as well.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Esmerelda was currently sat in Ada's office as Hecate and Ada paced the floor looking at her before Ada stopped.

"Esmerelda I am so disappointed in you, I know you are grieving but you are smart enough to know how stupid it is to get that drunk" Ada told the girl shaking her head.

"Not to mention you stole the alcohol from Miss Cackle's safe" Hecate butt in annoyed with the girl. They had found this out when they found the alcohol gone from the safe and put two and two together.

Esmerelda sat there looking at the floor the words not affecting her, she didn't care anymore about what they were saying to her.

"Don't just sit there say something!" Hecate told the girl wanting some response from her.

Esmerelda just sat there staring at the floor sadly before she spoke "I just wanted to forget..." Esmerelda replied explaining why she had done what she did.

Ada's anger instantly fell at that when she realised how the girl had drank just to get through the night, the thought made her really sad and she knew punishing her was not going to do anything.

"Esmerelda...you will find talking to people better" Ada replied not sure what else to say.

"I am sorry" Esmie replied just looking at the floor still sadly. Ada sighed and walked to her putting her arm around her.

"It is okay dear, now why don't you go clear your head?" Ada suggested. Esmerelda nodded and left playing with the locket around her neck now no-one could see it and spent the rest of the afternoon crying and hugging her doll.

* * *

Bereavement counsellors had a long waiting list and even though Ada had arranged a counsellor they were not able to visit the sisters for another month, Esmerelda was getting worse by the day so Ada knew they couldn't wait that long which is why she thought a hired counsellor would be better.

"If Mr and Mrs Hallow will pay for it" Hecate said in response after Ada had told her the idea.

"Well if they want to keep their eldest child and not have her with their middle child then that would be very wise for them" Ada replied. She was seriously worried the girl was suicidal.

Mr and Mrs Hallow had agreed to pay a private hired counsellor once they found out just how badly their daughter was still affected and Ada went to greet her one windy morning, opening the door of the castle and smiling.

"Thank you so much for coming I am Ada Cackle, the headmistress" Ada told the woman after she had done the normal welcoming gesture to the woman.

"Gladys Spellcharm" the woman replied with a smile. She was tall with dark hair and dressed in a dark suit, she was the kind of person who just made you feel at ease and Ada smiled hoping she would be able to help Esmerelda.

* * *

Esmerelda was the first to see the counsellor as she was the one who needed to see her most. Walking in the room and seeing the young girl's appearance Gladys could tell she was going to be hard to help, she could tell from one look at her this girl was in a bad way.

"Hello Esmerelda, I am Gladys" the women said kindly as Esmerelda sat down not looking focused on the woman. The woman decided to start of slowly.

"So how are you feeling?" Gladys asked. A stupid question to most people but she was a counsellor, some people felt anger, some shock, some numb, she wanted to know exactly what emotions Esmerelda was feeling.

"Oh I am feeling great" Esmerelda replied saracatically "I was thinking of throwing a party tonight I am so happy" Esmerelda told the woman saracatically not understanding why she was asking such a stupid question. Gladys was not fazed by her response she had had similar experiences before.

"I didn't mean it quite like that...I mean are you sad, angry, in shock what are you experiencing?" Gladys asked.

"I am not angry" Esmerelda replied. She had no-one to be angry at it was an accident after all.

"So you are very sad yes? I have heard how close you were to Ethel" the woman replied sympathetically.

At the mention of her late sister's name Gladys saw Esmerelda flinch clearly not able to deal with even hearing it. The counsellor had experienced this many times before, many times in cases like this people stopped saying the name of whoever who had passed away because they didn't want to upset the family but that was part of healing, they had to get used to talking about it without it making them burst into tears and that started with their name.

"It's not fair.." Esmerelda replied after a few seconds something building up she needed to get it off her chest.

"What isn't fair?" Gladys asked gently not understanding.

"I waited for Ethie for so long...I always wanted a sister but I had to wait until I was two, when my mum was pregnant with her I was so impatient, I couldn't physically wait for her to be there it felt a lifetime waiting for her...it's not fair why did Ethie have to go when I waited so long to have her?" Esmerelda asked talking quietly. She was not even really speaking to Gladys but seemed more to be speaking to herself.

"I know it seems unfair, but unfortunately stuff like this happens, you should focus on the time you did get with her, some people don't get even a year with their sister" Gladys told the girl.

"But I can't focus on that, I need Ethie she was my dream, having a little sister was my dream and I know I have Sybil but it is not the same my parents chose to have Sybil I wasn't desperate for another sister" Esmerelda replied trying to explain how she felt.

"Are you not close to Sybil?" Gladys asked not understanding the relationship very well yet as after all she had just met the girl.

"Yes, I am super close to Sybil but not in the same way I am to Ethie, when she was born she became my universe, I was only two but I could sense that my parents and grandparents were waiting for the novelty to wear off, you know what most older siblings are like, they are jealous of the new baby or start to resent them after a while as they liked being an only child but it never did for me, I remember my mother worrying because she said I was obsessed with her and it wasn't normal but she was right I was obsessed with her, I never wanted her out of my sight and would always be picking her up and spinning her around, my parents used to freak out over this afraid I was going to drop her but I never did because I knew to be careful with her, even as we both got a bit older I never wanted to be away from her" Esmerelda replied admitting how she had been with Ethel even as a baby. The girl had pretty much being absolutely obsessed with Ethel since day one.

"So you have never really being away from her?" the counsellor asked her.

"Well I was the first and second year of school" Esmerelda replied "But I remember it took me ages to cope with it, I cried all the time but unlike Sybil I hid that, I never could truly relax them two years I could feel that Ethie was missing but I knew then that I could mirror her and still see her and I would see her in the hoildays" Esmerelda told the woman. Esmerelda had never admitted how much she cried at that time before, she was not like Sybil she cried when she was alone as she missed her sister so much them two years.

"But now you know you can't do that?" Gladys asked the girl.

Esmerelda nodded in response "I need Ethie, I can't function without Ethie, why could it not have been me? She would have not being this distraught over me dying" Esmerelda replied tears streaming out her eyes.

"I am sure Ethel would have been very upset as well" Gladys responded. If they had been that close Ethel would definitely be distraught if Esmie died.

"How is your sleeping and eating?" Gladys asked knowing these two things normally went bad when someone was grieving.

"Non-existent" Esmerelda replied honestly. She had not slept or ate properly since the day Ethel had died, she assumed this was common knowledge so there was no point lying.

"I heard about the drinking" Gladys commented gently.

"Yes so? People drink all the time" Esmerelda replied.

"And you seem to have a problem with hurting yourself, sitting on the road, falling of your broom" the woman told her.

"Yes so?" Esmerelda replied with a shrug.

"So, it is dangerous" Gladys responded.

"It is my my fault, I wasn't able to protect her" Esmerelda replied in a way feeling guilty about the girl's death and wanting to cause herself pain because of it.

"It is not your fault at all, it was an accident, now have you picked up any more dangerous habits?" Gladys asked. She knew a lot of people turned to drugs or alcohol when something like this happened and she had heard from Miss Cackle about her getting drunk so she was worried she had other bad habits.

Esmerelda shook her head as she scratched her wrist nervously, anyone else would not put two and two together but Gladys had been a counsellor for years and could tell the girl was trying to hide the fact she was either cutting or burning her wrists but they had to work on one thing at a time, the fact she had opened up so much was already a good sign.

"I think we will call it a day, try to start eating and sleeping again, you will find it helps" Gladys told the young girl.

"The only thing that will help is Ethie" Esmerelda replied as she left.

Gladys sighed knowing as a professional she had to tell the teachers all her worries about the girl but she had never met someone so far down in the pit of depression, not Esmerelda's age anyway and she had no idea if she could possibly help her or not. If the girl really was as obsessed with her sister as she said she was it could take years for the girl to even smile again.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Ada Cackle was in her office late one night with Hecate Hardbroom sat by her side. The elder witch paced her office clearly worried about the latest turn of events.

"Whatever are we going to do Hecate?" Ada asked her deputy in a panic.

"Calm down Ada" Hecate replied gently "Gladys saw no marks on the girl she can't be sure" Hecate replied trying to reassure Ada.

"She is a counsellor, she is a professional and she knows that the girl is self-harming one way or another, how did none of us notice?" Ada asked her deputy as she continued to pace back and forth in her office.

"Because the uniforms have long sleeves I suppose" Hecate replied with the most logical reason she could think off as to why everyone had missed it.

"We have messed this up, we should have kept a better eye on her" Ada replied with a sigh feeling they had somehow let the girl down.

"We did everything we could Ada, the girl needs professional help even if we had known we would not have been able to do anything to make her stop ourselves" Hecate replied smartly.

The teachers would have no idea how to force her to stop, there was other pupils in the school they couldn't exactly take everything sharp away for one pupils benefit and Esmerelda was very smart, she must know a spell to hurt herself if she wanted to.

Ada sighed but said nothing more knowing there was nothing she could do so both of them retired for the night.

* * *

The next morning Sybil walked into the bedroom on the corridor above hers. Even though the girl was the youngest, since the middle girl's death she had practically become the eldest because she was the one who made sure Esmerelda was up so she did not lounge in bed all day. Esmie was asleep but did not look peacefully and Sybil shook her.

"Esmie wake up" Sybil told the older blonde who opened her eyes with a sigh clutching her doll.

"You best get up before HB realises you are in here" Sybil told her older sister.

For the last week Esmerelda had been sleeping in Ethel's old room. The room had been sealed of after what had happened but Esmie wanted to feel close to her sister so had sneaked in but if HB found out she did not think the woman would be happy, whether she was grieving or not. Esmie sighed and stood up.

"Quick get dressed before HB does her rounds" Sybil told her sister seeing her just standing there.

Sybil was not to advanced at magic yet but Esmie was and had recently learned the spell for changing clothes quickly. The girl flicked her hand in a downwards motion waiting for her clothes to change but nothing happened.

"Erm Esmie it didn't work" Sybil commented trying to be helpful.

"Yes well I have just woken up" Esmie commented trying again. Nothing happened not even a spark happened.

"Leave Sybil, I need to get dressed" Esmie told her sister kind of harshly. The girl had got a lot harsher recently and Sybil left letting Esmie get dressed, after she was dressed Esmie tried casting another spell but nothing happened. Sybil ran back in as if she had been waiting.

"Why is your magic not working?" the girl asked looking really worried.

If this had happened last year Esmerelda would be in a huge panic but even with the realisation her powers seemed to be gone she really couldn't care less and shrugged in response to her younger sister showing she didn't know and wasn't really bothered.

"Try casting a simple spell" Sybil told her sister who rolled her eyes but tried to close the bedroom door muttering a quick spell. Nothing moved, there was no sparks and no signs there girl even had any powers.

"I will go get help!" Sybil shouted running out the door even when Esmerelda shouted after her.

* * *

Ada was sitting down with the other teaches except for Miss Drill who was on breakfast duty, and was just about to tuck in to her morning tea and a chocolate biscuit when the door flew open and the youngest Hallow sister ran in looking to be in a state of panic.

"Sybil Hallow have you never heard of knocking!" Hecate shouted.

"Miss I think Esmie has lost her powers help please" Sybil yelled ignoring her teacher's comment.

Ada and Hecate looked at each other before they transferred to Esmie's room and found her sat on her bed in there, having being smart enough to change rooms.

"Esmerelda are you okay?" Ada asked her pupil concerned.

"Yes it is true my powers are not working" Esmie said in response knowing that was what her teacher was really asking her.

"Perform a spell" Hecate told the girl who did as she was asked showing the teachers her powers were completely gone.

"Go and call a doctor Hecate" Ada told the other woman who nodded and left, all Esmie wished was that she could be left alone.

The doctor examined the girl only for a few seconds before giving his diagnosis.

"Her grief has caused her powers to not work, it happens much more often than you think" the man told Ada and Hecate.

"So how does she get them back?" Hecate asked the doctor.

"She will get them back once she starts to recover a bit more" the doctor replied.

Ada, Hecate and Sybil were all worried about what this meant for Esmerelda because none of them thought the girl was going to get any better.

* * *

As Esmerelda was losing her powers though Jennifier was just rediscovering hers, she had not realised for weeks she was a witch because her powers were taking a while to recover from her accident.

Jennifer stormed into her bedroom and sat on her bed really frustrated and upset. She was sick of being stuck in the house all the time and to top it off her social worker had come over and told her they had no other ways of tracking down her family, so the girl was in foster care for long term and unless a member of her family came forward she would be staying there. The girl put her feet up on her bed flicking her hand aggressively to reach her book when she realised the book was hovering in the air and she pushed it back down.

Only then did she her anger sustain as she realised the book had been floating...that was not normal and the girl turned to look at the book flicking her hand again wondering if she was seeing things.

The book floated into the air and Jennifer gasped looking at it before she looked at her hands seeing they looked normal. The girl pointed her fingers towards the book and lowered it back onto the table.

Jennifer stood up pointing her fingers at something else it floated too and then she pointed her fingers towards her bedroom door and it opened. Jennifer beamed excited about this new skill she had learned and started pointing her fingers at most things in her room realising how much she could do.

She could make the window open, the CD player turn on, the curtains close, she could do just about anything and the girl danced around amazed at discovering she had powers.

"Jennifer" the girl heard someone say "What is all this noise about?" Norman said walking in the room having heard doors and windows slamming for the last ten minutes.

Jennifer lost concentration as she jumped when he opened the door but then ran to him excited.

"I can do magic, I can do magic!" the girl shouted jumping up and down on the spot. Her foster dad folded his arms looking at her.

"Are you not a little old to be believing in magic?" the man asked raising his eyebrows.

"I am only believing it in because I can do spells!" the girl replied happily. The man shook his head thinking the girl had had a dream.

"It was just a dream sweetheart, there is no such thing as magic, now come on dinner" the man said leading the girl away.

Jennifer followed but knew it had not being a dream at all. She could do magic and she could not wait to practise her powers more.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

After the discovery that Esmerelda had lost her powers Ada had realised there was nothing more she personally could do to help the girl, she needed specialised care that she was not able to give her so the next week the headteacher called Mr and Mrs Hallow into the school to discuss what they could do for the young girl.

"Thank you for coming into the school this morning" Ada told the parents as she sat down facing them along with her right-hand woman Hecate.

"Well it did sound very urgent" Mrs Hallow replied explaining why they had come.

"It is, Esmerelda is still not coping at all and to top it off the girl's powers have gone" Ada told the parents getting right to the point. Mrs Hallow gasped as if she could think of nothing worse.

"Her powers have gone!?" the blonde woman exclaimed in shock "But why?" the woman asked.

"Grief, apparently intense grief can make the person lose their powers from their out of control emotions" Hecate replied trying to explain.

"So it isn't permanent? Esmie will get her powers back?" Mr Hallow asked.

"If she starts to heal yes she will" Ada told the parents truthfully.

"Oh poor Esmie, how will she cope without her powers?" Mrs Hallow replied sadly.

Ada opened her mouth then closed it thinking what to say. She was aware Mr and Mrs Hallow were not aware this was the second time in her lifetime their eldest daughter had lost her powers as she had overheard the oldest two agreeing not to tell their parents. The girl had coped once before without her powers and would do so again, Ada felt a bit annoyed thinking her students parents should be more worried about how their daughter was coping without her little sister and not be so worried about how the girl was coping without magic. Hecate, who had known Ada for many years could sense the woman was annoyed so spoke up instead.

"Mr and Mrs Hallow, the truth of the matter is that Esmerelda is going downhill and nothing we are doing is working, Esmerelda needs professional help with people that know how to help grieving teenagers" Hecate told Mr and Mrs Hallow trying to remain calm.

"She is having counselling though" Mr Hallow replied not seeing how she was not getting professional help. Hecate looked at Ada and gave her a look not sure how much she should tell the parents.

"Mr and Mrs Hallow" Ada said a bit louder than she intended. She really sometimes found it hard to maintain her patience with Mr and Mrs Hallow. "The counselling is not helping, Esmerelda is self-harming, starving herself, not sleeping, failing her classes becoming angry quickly and getting herself drunk, Esmerelda needs to go somewhere that can deal with her grief, we do not have the knowledge to do it" Ada told the parents bluntly everything that had happened. Mr and Mrs Hallow looked at each other in shock, neither haven't of realised Esmerelda was in such a bad state.

"I had no idea...what do you suggest?" Mrs Hallow asked the woman not sure what would be best.

"There is a school in Birmingham which is especially for teenagers with problems, the teachers are professionals with these sort of situations, there is round the clock supervision and counselling and it is very strict in hopes of allowing the students to get over their problems, I think this will be the best thing for Esmerelda right now" Ada told Mr and Mrs Hallow about a school she had recently discovered.

"But have they ever dealt with anyone going through grief before?" Mr Hallow asked Ada curiously.

"Yes, all the students in the school are troubled in one way or another and they are famous for helping children through grief and getting them back on the right track" Ada replied trying to convince Mr and Mrs Hallow this was a great place for Esmerelda. Ada really liked the girl and did not want to send the girl away but the girl needed help that she couldn't give her.

"It does sound like it will benefit our daughter" Mr Hallow replied becoming convinced.

"Yes there is two things you should know though, the first is this school charges £200 per term" Ada told Mr and Mrs Hallow not wanting them to get a random bill and be shocked.

"£200 a term? That is ridiculous" Mrs Hallow replied not liking the figure she was given.

"Yes well you should be grateful to be in a position where you can afford it, most of the parents of the students struggle to keep their kids there" Ada replied annoyed at the woman's complaining when she was rich and could afford to send her daughter and if she had to her daughter's whole year group there without worry when most of the parents were struggling and having to make sacrifices to pay for the school.

"We never said we wouldn't pay it" Mr Hallow replied trying to defend his wife.

"Good that is settled then" Ada replied thinking it went easier than she had thought it would to get them to agree to pay for the school.

"And what was there other thing we had to know?" Mrs Hallow asked interested.

"The other thing you had to know is this school is not a magical school...Esmerelda will be taught normal subjects until she leaves there" Ada replied.

Ada knew it was not exactly the greatest thing, the girl needed her witches education but Esmerelda was extremely smart and was naturally way above her year group academically and Ada had no worries about the girl missing some of her education, she would quickly catch up.

"Wait a second, you want us to send our daughter to a school with ...normal children?" Mr Hallow asked the headteacher in disbelief.

"Yes that is right" Ada said not seeing it as such a big deal.

"We can't do that, Esmie is not like them and they will realise she is a witch and our world will be exposed!" Mrs Hallow told the two teachers panicking. Hecate rolled her eyes as the woman over-exaggerated. The woman might not have liked her middle child but Hecate could see where she got her drama queen attitude from.

"Mrs Hallow, Esmie has no powers, unless the girl is stupid enough to tell the pupils she is a witch they will have no way of knowing" Hecate told the woman annoyed.

"And even if someone did somehow find out they would not believe it anyway" Ada replied knowing a normal person would not believe it without a lot of convincing.

"I don't like the idea" Mr Hallow replied not convinced.

"Mr and Mrs Hallow, I am afraid I must insist, if you don't agree I will have to get a doctor to assign her there, Esmerelda needs help and it is the best place for her" Ada told the mother and father telling them she was serious.

Ada knew she was being kind of harsh but Esmerelda needed to go to this school whether it was a normal or magical school, Esmerelda was getting worse by the day after all.

"Do you really think it is such a good idea to split Esmerelda and Sybil up when they have already lost Ethel?" Mrs Hallow asked not seeing how it would help.

Ada nodded before replying "Actually I do, Esmerelda and Sybil are grieving in completely different ways and I don't think Sybil is helping Esmerelda as she is tormented with the fact one of her sisters is not with her, I think it might help Sybil to heal too if she is away from Esmerelda for a while" Ada replied with her opinion on the matter.

Mr and Mrs Hallow looked at each other trying to decide what would be best for their daughter and realised maybe Ada was right.

"Alright she can go, but I don't think you will have an easy time getting her to agree" Mrs Hallow told the headmistress.

* * *

Mrs Hallow was wrong. Esmerelda was called into the office after her parents had left and told that she was going to be sent away for a while to help her recovery.

"Okay...whatever" Esmerelda replied not bothered if she had to be sent away, she really didn't care about anything anymore.

"Esmerelda" Ada said sitting in front of the girl and sighing. "Can you try to take this seriously? Ethel would not want you to be like this" Ada replied wanting the girl to care and freak at having to leave.

Esmerelda who had being looking at the floor looked up becoming angry in a split second something she had taken to doing a lot recently.

"How do you know that?" Esmerelda asked "You don't know what she will want because she is..." Esmie said still not able to say the word. The girl kneeled on the floor crying and Ada felt bad for upsetting her so kneeled next to her.

"Esmerelda" Ada said trying to calm the girl down who just cried more. Ada touched the girl's back gently trying to comfort her and spared a glance with Hecate who looked down sadly.

It took them a long time to calm the girl down and after she had calmed down she instantly became angry and glared at Ada before storming out the office slamming the door. After she had gone Ada knew for a fact now they were doing the right thing, Esmerelda needed help from professionals before she ended up with the same fate as her sister.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

Esmerelda was taken to the new school the week after, after saying goodbye to Sybil her parents took her to the school and getting out of the car Esmerelda got her first look at the school.

The school she was at could not be more different from Cackles if it tried, Cackles was in a old castle and this school was in a regular old looking building which was painted in white and had a small sign saying 'Miss Browning's School For Troubled Teenagers" and the biggest difference was unlike Cackles this school was coed...though the boys did live in a completely different building and had separate classes so in a way it was two separate schools. Esmerelda looked around at the place as her father rang the doorbell.

The door opened and a thin, tall woman dressed in green who had a pixie cut looked at them wearing a expression like this was the last place she wanted to be.

"Good morning" Mr Hallow started before raising his hand slightly only then remembering regular people did not greet each other like magical people did so he put his hand out instead as he had seen people shake hands before. "I am Mr Hallow my wife and I are here to drop of our daughter, Esmerelda" he said. The woman at the door continued to glare at him until her eyes lit up.

"Mr Hallow" she said shaking his hand before doing the same to Mrs Hallow awkwardly and then finally turning her gaze on Esmerelda.

The girl was holding the doll she had taken to carrying everywhere and despite the fact she was dressed in her fancy clothes and not her ugly school uniform it was clear from the girl's face she was in really bad shape.

"Oh my what a beautiful child" the woman said to them "I am Miss Browning" the woman said. Esmerelda pulled a face assuming she called all the new children 'beautiful' but she really didn't like this woman, she was a teenager not two years old.

"Come in please" the woman said stepping aside to let the three of them in and stepping into the hall Esmerelda got a shock.

She did not know exactly what she had expected but not this. There was a long gloomy looking corridor with doors on each side, it really looked nothing like a school, she also saw a staircase and even though she really didn't care to much about anything anymore she really wanted to go back to Cackles.

"Let me give you the tour" Miss Browning said.

"Of course I am sure you are aware about what our school offers, we help troubled teenagers get back on their feet, I was very sorry to hear about Ethel but we are experts at helping children with their grief, the students have counselling everyday after classes by themselves and on weekends they are given group counselling which really helps" Miss Browning said. Esmerelda followed behind already getting bored as she showed them the dining room.

"The students in this school learn all the usual subjects Maths, Science, English, History, Geography, Art, Physical Education, Religious Education, Music and of course French and German" the woman told Mr and Mrs Hallow and Esmerelda.

Esmerelda pulled a face at the subjects, she had only done basic maths, reading and writing but never done science or History, well not 'normal people' history anyway, she sighed worried about how far behind she was going to be because the only subject that made any sense to her was Music...she hoped that was like Chanting.

"Students are given three meals a day, after their counselling sessions they are expected to stay in their rooms quietly and be in bed by nine, we have people monitoring the students all the time, so any questions?" the woman spoke so fast even Mr and Mrs Hallow looked like they were struggling to keep up.

"I think everything appears to be in order" Mrs Hallow replied with a smile.

"Great let's introduce you to the students" Mrs Browning said as Esmerelda followed behind suddenly afraid of meeting her new schoolmates.

* * *

Miss Browning walked into a small classroom where young girls were sat at individual desks, not to much different from Cackles except they were talking a strange language.

"Good morning girls" Miss Browning said to the pupils sat at the desk.

"Good morning Miss Browning" the young girls chanted back.

Esmerelda took the opportunity to take a proper look at the girls, all aged between thirteen and seventeen and not looking interested to be there, most were slouching in a 'could care less' attitude.

"Girls this is our new pupil Esmerelda Hallow" the woman said pointing to the girl. At her introduction Esmie saw a couple of girls at the back all smirking and whispering which she assumed was regarding her carrying a doll, she didn't care though she needed the doll.

"I am sure you will all become friends quickly" Miss Browning said. Esmerelda gave the woman a look like she was crazy...had she not seen the reactions from the other girls?

It was then as Esmerelda was moving her hair out of her face the teacher caught sight of the locket glistering around the girls neck and smiled at her before she spoke.

"I am sorry jewellery is not allowed" the woman told the girl before lifting her hand as if she was going to take the locket. Esmerelda stopped her and held onto it tightly, she couldn't lose the locket it meant to much to her.

"What if I wear it after my lessons?" Esmerelda asked speaking for the first time since she got there. The woman gave her a look clearly not used to being answered back.

"I am sorry it is the rules" Miss Browning said again in a tone saying it was final.

"I insist I wear it" Esmerelda replied not sure why she of all people was challenging the rules, at her boldness she heard some students gasp and she looked towards her father for help.

Esmie was the last person that would get her parents to pay someone off to get what she wanted but this time she was desperate, her father looked at her then whispered something to the teacher who suddenly smiled.

"Well that all seems to be in order" the woman said saying no more about the locket and leading Esmerelda out of the room to show her her bedroom.

"That is not fair, if I had said that I would have being thrown out" a student said after the girl had gone.

"She clearly has a rich daddy, that is just great all we need is a posh stuck up know it all" another girl replied, the girl behind them leaned over to talk.

"Jealously is a really ugly trait you know" the girl said sticking up for the new pupil.

"Oh shut your face Parker no one likes you" the girl who had spoken first commented.

* * *

Esmerelda was shown her new bedroom, it was bigger than the one she had a Cackles and simply furnished, Esmie had not being allowed to bring her cat so Sybil was looking after it so instead she placed her bag on the bed looking around.

"I will leave you to say your goodbyes" Miss Browning said leaving the parents alone with their daughter.

Esmerelda sat on her bed awkwardly looking at her parents, their goodbyes were always awkward as her parents were not the type of people who liked to be hugged.

"Well this is where we leave you, write whenever you need us" Mr Hallow said.

"I will" Esmerelda replied.

"Goodbye" her mother said as she left wit her husband.

Esmerelda was finally alone and sighed, she somehow did not think attending this school would be fun and she had a feeling her new classmates did not like her.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Esmerelda was currently looking in her mirror with a disgusted look on her face, the Cackle Academy uniforms were not to bad once you got used to them but this one...who on earth thought it was a good idea to have a yellow blouse, a brown blazer and a checked long skirt, Esmerelda thought Cackle's had it bad but this was horrendous.

As the girl was leaving her bedroom she saw the girls that had been whispering during her introduction the previous day walking past and when they saw her they all laughed and started to whisper again until eventually the girls walked up to her.

"Oh look it is the new girl" one of the students said. She was short with blonde hair but unlike Esmerelda's it was clear it was bleached blonde and not natural, she had dark eyes and looked mean.

"Well you might have a rich daddy, shame he couldn't use his money to buy you better clothes, or change the uniform" another girl said with dyed bright red hair and green eyes.

Esmerelda looked at the girls blankly just wanting them to leave so she could start her first awful day at this awful place, the two girls who had not spoken yet had black hair and green eyes, the girls looked like they were sisters or even twins and Esmerelda was just about to open her mouth to speak when a fifth girl appeared behind the group of bullies.

"Get lost Brown, no-one cares what you have to say" the girl said to the girl who appeared to be the leader of the group. She turned around with her cronies smiling.

"Aww Parker are you trying to make a little friend, sounds like something you would do as you want the money" The girl whose last name was Brown said.

"Aww what is wrong? Upset because you messed up your dye job?" the girl replied making fun of the girl's bad dye job and Esmie had to smirk, it really was awful, the entire top of the girl's head was brown and only the bottom was blonde. Brown looked insulted and looked at her friends before walking off pushing into the other girl in the process. When she had gone the girl went and stood in front of Esmerelda and smiled kindly.

"Just ignore them they are really pathetic" the girl told Esmie who nodded slowly and Esmerelda took her first proper look at her,stick straight chestnut coloured hair that was just past her shoulders, a fringe lining her forehead and brown eyes.

"I am Grace Parker" the girl told Esmie introducing herself. Esmie was not normally one to fall quiet around new people but she was still not talking much as it was but she thought it would be nice to reply as the girl had just helped her.

"Esmerelda Hallow...or Esmie whichever" the girl replied giving her the choice between her full name or her nickname. At the mention of her last name the girl's eyes widened for a split second.

"Hallow?" Grace commented eyes wide in shock.

"Yes..." Esmie replied not sure what was so shocking about her last name. Grace seemed to realise she was being strange because she changed her expression back to a smile.

"Well nice to meet you Esmie" Grace told her happily.

"Who were them other girls?" Esmerelda asked Grace curiously.

"The leader is Laura Brown and her second in command is Jasmine Smith and the two dark haired girls are twins, Nicky and Rachael Westbrook" Grace told the other girl "They are idiots though" Grace replied insulting the girls.

"I figured that" Esmerelda replied.

"I was sorry to hear about your sister" Grace told Esmie sadly. The other students had been told the situation so people knew the new student was grieving. Esmie flinched at that statement but hid it well.

"Thanks" Esmie replied looking at the ground sadly.

"What school did you come from?" Grace asked sensing the girl was uncomfortable and trying to change the subject.

"Oh erm...boarding school" Esmie replied not giving details.

"Oh me too...come on I will show you where we have breakfast" Grace replied trying to diffuse the awkwardness.

* * *

Grace led Esmerelda to a dull looking room that had a long table and chairs set up before taking a seat at the table, Esmerelda sat next to her just as the food was being served and the girl was disappointed to see that the food looked just as bad as Cackles food but at least it was piping hot which was more than could be said for Cackles Academy's food. Grace started to eat her bowl of porridge straight away as did most of the other students but Esmerelda just pushed her bowl away not wanting to eat it. Grace saw what she did and leaned over to talk to her.

"I would eat it if I were you" Grace told the girl kindly.

"I am not hungry" Esmerelda replied leaning her head on her arms.

"Even so...trust me it is better if you just eat it, they won't let you leave until you do, my first day here I refused to eat too and they made me sit at the table all day, I thought eventually they would let me go but it was bedtime and I was still there and I realised I was not going to be allowed to leave until I eat it, and it was cold by then and I had to force it down cold which was disgusting, you must as well eat it whilst it is still hot it is better" Grace told the blonde girl.

Esmerelda had no idea if the girl was telling her the truth but then again why would the girl lie? She knew nothing about her and she was not a teacher why would she care about her eating habits? Esmerelda glanced up and saw there was teachers walking around the table and checking on the students food to see how much they had consumed and Esmerelda realised Grace was probably telling the truth.

So for the first time in weeks Esmerelda picked up her spoon and put a little bit of food on it before eating the tiniest bit of porridge and she realised it actually was pretty good, in fact it was nice and warm and that was the moment Esmerelda realised just how hungry she actually was. She suddenly found herself eating the food super fast and Grace watched laughing.

"Was your school's food really that bad? You look like you haven't had decent food in months" Grace replied watching the girl with amusement.

"I stopped eating because of ...circumstances so I haven't had decent food in months" Esmerelda admitted as she chewed. Grace nodded and went back to her own food and Esmie decided she must as well past the time by making conversation.

"So how long have you being here?" Esmerelda asked eating more. Grace swallowed before replying.

"Five months this week" Grace replied politely.

"Why did you get sent here?" Esmerelda asked interested, compared to everyone else she had met so far this girl appeared far to normal to be in a school like this.

"It is a long story, I basically had a mental breakdown so the doctor refereed me here" Grace told Esmerelda and Esmie could sense it was a bad subject for the girl so she dropped it and carried on stuffing food into her mouth.

"Fair enough, so what is it like here?" Esmie asked Grace.

"Boring, strict, annoying, but it does help, I am in a much better shape now than I was when I first came here" Grace told the girl who finished eating and threw her spoon into her bowl and Esmerelda smiled already feeling better after having of eating properly for the first time in a long time.

* * *

"Come on we best go, German first" Grace told Esmie rolling her eyes as she stood up and showed Esmerelda where to put her dirty bowl before leading her out of the room making Esmie nervous.

"I have never done German before" the girl admitted the thought of being so far behind upsetting her as she was usually so perfect at schoolwork. Grace smirked at her as they walked.

"Don't worry, most people in this school can barely speak their own language let alone a foreign language so you will be fine" Grace told Esmerelda to reassure her as she chuckled.

Esmerelda smiled suddenly feeling slightly better, she was not sure if Grace was being friendly to her out of pity but at that moment it did not matter because suddenly this school did not feel quite as scary as it had that morning.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

It had been months since Jennifer's accident but the girls memory was still non-existent but one day whilst the girl was sitting down with her foster family eating a tiny fraction of her memory seemed to come back to her whilst listening to the conversation her foster parents were having.

"Emily dear there is a letter here from you from Sybil" Norman, Jennifer's foster father said.

At the mention of that name the girl shot her head up staring at her foster father.

"That name" Jennifer said quietly something in her mind telling her that name meant something to her.

"You know someone with that name...or was it your name?" Norman asked sparing a glance at his wife as Jennifer tried to rack her mind for where that name was from, it sounded super familiar to her but she had no idea where it was from. It wasn't a very common name which told Jennifer the name must mean something to her.

"I don't know...everything is just a blur" Jennifer replied not able to remember who Sybil was or where she knew her from but this gave the young girl hope that maybe her memory would return fully.

* * *

Things with Esmerelda were starting to come together. Esmerelda really liked her new friend Grace because the girl was so different from anyone Esmerelda had met before in a really good way.

Most people Esmerelda had come into contact with instantly pitied her as soon as they found out she had lost a sibling, it was a natural reaction she was sure many people did not know they were doing and it made everything awkward because the fact her sister had died was hanging over them and people would find it hard to talk to her in case they said the wrong thing. Grace however never even mentioned her sister, it was just something they didn't talk about not unless Esmerelda herself brought the subject up which had not happened yet, the girl had known Grace for a week now and had not spoken to her about Ethel once except for the time Grace apologised about her sister, Grace also didn't pity her she just spoke to her like a normal teenager and if the girl fell quiet because she was getting upset Grace just left her alone for a while. Grace was a breathe of fresh air for Esmerelda because she was not reminding her of Ethel and the girl actually liked Grace as a person too, she was funny and pleasant to be around.

"Hey what do you reckon Brown is writing on her list of what she is grateful for?" Grace asked her friend during their weekly group counselling session after they had being told to write a list of the things they were grateful for. Esmerelda who had been writing her own list smiled a little and looked up at the girl at the other end of the room.

"Boys and hair-dye" Esmerelda replied saying the first two things that popped into her mind as she looked at the girl. Grace snorted and nodded.

"Yes very true, I can see her list now: Boys, sex, hair-dye, and money" Grace replied making Esmie shake her head but smirk knowing that list was accurate.

"What do you have?" Esmerelda asked changing the subject "I have the time I got with Ethie, Sybil, love...not romantic love though" Esmerelda made sure to point out "Having shelter and ...being a natural blonde and not having dark roots when the rest of my hair is blonde" Esmerelda told her friend adding the last thing on as a joke causing Grace to laugh.

"That chick is literally so desperate to be blonde it is not even funny, I literally think that is why she wants to be rich so she can afford to get her hair dyed properly" Grace replied clapping her hands and laughing.

"Oh great so the girl is jealous of me because I have the hair colour she wants and the money she wants for hair dying" Esmerelda replied in amazement.

"Basically yes" Grace replied as she started to laugh and Esmerelda laughed a little too until their counsellor came and stood in front of them hands on their hips and the girls fell silent until the man had gone.

"Did you hear what she asked me this morning?" Esmerelda asked remembering something she has wanted to talk to Grace about.

"She asked if you were only allowed to date rich guys" Grace replied with the correct answer.

"Yes and then I said I don't even know as I have never had a boyfriend, did you see her face?" Esmerelda asked knowing at her age it was kind of weird never to of being in a relationship but the girl had looked insulted.

"Well you went to a all girls boarding school, it is kind of hard to have a boyfriend unless you meet them outside of school" Grace replied logically.

"Exactly, plus I was focused on my sisters and my work, I barely had enough time in my day to sleep let alone to go on a date" Esmerelda replied remembering how busy her days had being with her extracurricular activities, her headgirl duties, her schoolwork, looking after her sisters, feeding and looking after her cat, mirroring her parents and helping the teachers. The girl had found it hard to fit all that in let alone anything else.

"That girl is a nightmare" Grace replied doodling on her piece of paper as she had finished her list.

* * *

Even though Esmerelda had already found a friend and was eating again there was one thing about the school she was attending that really got her down...the lessons. All the pupils in this school had been doing these lessons since they were tiny but Esmerelda only knew basics of maths and English which was what was required in her world, adding and taking away was no problem at all for her in maths but today they were doing fractions...something Esmerelda had never heard of until today.

The pupils in the class were taught how to do fractions but obviously the pupils had been doing them for years so it was more to recap than anything else and Esmerelda was beyond confused and she did not even have Grace to help her as they had to sit alphabetically in lessons.

"Please do pages three and four" her teacher Mr Wilson, a tall man with dark hair and glasses said and the girl turned to the pages of the text book and stared at the work as if it was in Chinese...which it literally might as well had been to Esmerelda.

Used to being top in everything Esmerelda was finding being so far behind hard to deal with and for the first time she experienced how Mildred must of felt when she opened her test paper in her entrance exam and was met by something that looked foreign and was amazed Mildred had even done as well as she did.

Esmerelda looked around realising all the pupils were scribbling away and she leaned her head on her desk trying to look busy before taking a piece of paper from her notepad and scribbling her sister's nickname all over it until the bell rang and she left her lesson quickly.

* * *

A few hours later Esmie was walking with Grace when their maths teacher appeared in front of them looking angry.

"Hallow is this a joke?" the man said as Esmerelda realised he was talking to her, they had a habit in this school of using last names both teachers and pupils.

"What joke sir?" Esmerelda asked as he showed her the work she had done that morning...or lack of work.

"I don't get fractions sir" Esmerelda admitted with a sigh.

"You don't get something you have being doing since you were in primary school? "Do you have a problem with your memory Hallow?" the man asked her harshly and Esmie just stared at him as he basically told her she was thick.

"Oi leave her alone, if she is stuck in class and you don't offer help you have failed to teach her properly, don't blame her for your lack of teaching skills" Grace told the man with a glare not liking the teacher basically calling her friend thick. The man did not seem fazed.

"Do the exercise again, I want it on my desk tomorrow" he said giving Esmie a textbook and walking away.

"Ignore him, come on I will help you" Grace said.

* * *

The girls worked on the maths for hours but Esmerelda realised how much she hated the subject, the more she learned the more jumbled up she became and she felt more confused than she had when they started.

"Can we stop for a while? "My brain is fried" Esmerelda told her friend touching her forehead.

"That is the thing with maths, you either get it or you don't there is no in between" Grace replied closing the book. "Have you never really done fractions before?" Grace asked.

"No...my school didn't teach maths" Esmerelda admitted to her friend not thinking much of it.

"What?...but they have to...it is a core subject they have no choice" Grace replied looking at her suspiciously.

"Well they taught it but not...often" Esmerelda lied trying to save herself from revealing she was a witch but Grace just kept looking at her suspiciously.

"Oh look it is late we best go to bed night" Esmerelda said glad bedtime was here.

"Night" Grace replied with a small smile knowing the girl must be hiding something as she went to her own bedroom confused.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

Esmerelda soon realised it was not just maths she was super bad at and soon she was getting the worst grades in the class something the bullies did not fail to notice, the only lesson she was actually any good at was music but even that was not always singing.

"Don't feel down" Grace told her friend as they sat down to lunch one afternoon after a really bad science lesson for Esmerelda.

"If I told you in my old school I was top in everything what would you say?" Esmerelda asked Grace, the dark haired girl laughed.

"I would say you are delusional, but it is okay, being top is not everything you know" Grace told her friend tapping her arm as they ate.

"By the way I am really insulted that Mr Benson said my story for English was not going to be marked because it is supposed to be a true story" Esmerelda told her friend really insulted.

"Esmie, you did write about the sister of your old headteacher taking over the school and how Ethel had to save you because you were trapped" Grace told her friend with a smile.

"That story is 100% true I will have you know, I might have exaggerated some of it a little but it is still true" Esmerelda told Grace who chuckled. Grace did not know what to believe as the girl was grieving, she was not sure if it was in her head as she knew sometimes people could make up memories in their head.

"Hey...I just said your sisters name and you didn't burst into tears" Grace told her friend beaming at her.

"Oh I didn't even realise...I mean it is getting easier to hear...I don't miss her less..." Esmerelda replied not wanting Grace to think she was forgetting Ethie. She could never forget or stop loving Ethie.

"I know exactly what you mean" Grace told her friend before eating some of her soup.

"Good, I still wish she was here of course" Esmerelda told her friend falling silent as she slowly dipped bread in her soup. Esmerelda and Grace sat there for a few minutes in silence as they ate and Esmerelda was just about to ask her friend something when she heard voices.

* * *

"Oh look girls it is the girl who can barely spell her own name, let alone anything else" Laura Brown told her group of friends who all laughed as they sat opposite Grace and Esmie.

"Ignore them" Grace told her friend glaring at the bullies.

"Don't worry I always do" Esmerelda replied. She really did not care what the girls said about her as they were really pathetic.

"Hey do you reckon she was pretty or not?" Esmerelda heard whispered conversation wondering who the girls were talking about.

"If her sister is anything to go by, I would say no" Jasmine Smith replied with a mean smirk and that was when Esmerelda realised the girls were talking about Ethel.

"I bet she was a right annoying stuck up brat, if she is anything like Shallow" Nicky Westbrook replied as she ate her hot soup and smirked at her twin.

Esmerelda had already finished eating and was just there staring at the girls as they spoke to each other.

"Esmie maybe we should go" Grace said sensing Esmerelda was become agitated, normally the bullies were just stupid and made stupid comments about Grace and Esmerelda but now they were insulting Esmerelda's dead sister and Grace didn't want there to be a fight because there school was strict and Esmerelda would be a lot worse off than the girls she was fighting for starting it.

"Esmie come on" Grace told her tugging on her arm but the girl would not move she was just staring and listening to what they were saying.

"I glanced a photo of the girl, she really wasn't pretty at all" Rachael Westbrook replied. Grace was not sure if the bullies had noticed Esmerelda was listening because if they were they were totally blanking her.

"Well any sister of that will not be pretty, or smart for that matter I don't think that family has a brain in their head" Jasmine replied as she laughed.

"Anyway isn't it kind of strange to be so obsessed with your sibling? I mean for goodness sake you have another sister, get over it" Laura told her friends enjoying herself a lot as she insulted Ethel.

"The girl was probably proud to drown, good grief imagine Esmerelda as your sister she would never let you breathe" Rachael Westbrook replied.

Esmerelda clenched her hand feeling her temper raising breaking point, never in her life had she felt as angry as she did right now.

"I bet she is not even her sister, I mean they are rich right they can cover anything up? It is probably her cousin or something, or her daughter that her parents raised because she was way to young to look after a baby" Nicky Westbrook replied laughing with her friends.

"Nik you are a genius, that has to be true, maybe her parents took the child because she didn't even know how to hold the baby, wouldn't surprise me she is not exactly the smartest on the planet is she?" Laura replied making the theory go further.

"Yeah but who would be the father of it?" Jasmine asked

"Someone who was so desperate they picked the first tramp that they saw and then he did a runner" Laura replied as she laughed.

* * *

At that Esmerelda, who by this point had tears streaming down her face jumped up and stormed towards the girl feeling something she had never felt before, she seriously wanted to kill them, all of them and she did not know if she could stop herself from doing something stupid.

"Esmie" Grace said to her friend running after her.

"What kind of person picks on someone's dead sibling?" Esmerelda sneered out looking at the girls as she spoke.

"Oh please, I heard your sister was the bully of the school, don't be a hypocrite you lived with a bully" Laura replied simply.

"Yes but my sister didn't insult people's dead family members" Esmerelda replied knowing it wasn't the same, Ethel had done some horrible things and said some nasty things but despite everything she had never made fun of Mildred for having a dead family member...that was low.

"Oh what you going to do hit me I will like to see you try" Laura laughed not realising her friends were no longer laughing because the look the blonde girl was giving them was truly murderous.

"Punch me go on I dare you" Laura told the girl smirking at her.

Esmerelda glared at the girl about to do just that but out of nowhere Laura fell onto the floor screaming and clutching her leg. Her friends ran to her quickly.

"What happened?" The twins asked in unison.

"I don't know...ahh ahhhh, I think it is broken" Laura cried clutching her leg and crying as Jasmine ran to get the nurse.

Esmerelda stared at the girl in shock...had it being magic? She was so angry she would not have been able to control her powers, Esmerelda was lost in thought but was sent out of her thoughts by Grace pulling at her.

"Come on...now!" Grace told her friend pulling on her arm and dragging her away from the scene.

"Oww Grace you are hurting me" Esmerelda complained as her friend pulled her away.

The girl loosened her grip at that but did not let go of her until they were in Grace's bedroom and she closed the door looking at her friend like she was about to say something big.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

Grace looked at her friend as if she had never seen the girl before and then she smiled as she came to a realisation.

"Of course I am so stupid!" Grace said to herself confusing her friend who looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Hallow...I knew I had heard that name before, one of the really old witching families" Grace replied causing Esmerelda to slam the door shut in her shock as she realised what Grace had just said.

"You know about...the witching world?" Esmerelda asked completely shocked as to how Grace would know about her world.

"Of course I do...I am a witch" Grace admitted looking at Esmerelda who was just staring at her shocked.

"I suppose the time has come, I mean it is only fair you told me why you are here" Grace said sitting on her bed and Esmerelda sat next to her before the dark haired girl began to talk.

"I am from the non-witching world, I was well am the only witch in my family currently" Grace told Esmerelda starting to explain.

"Like Mildred?" Esmerelda commented thinking of the young dark haired girl.

"Who?" Grace asked not knowing who she was.

"Mildred Hubble, she is a witch from a non-witching family too and the only one in her family apparently, Ethie is...well was..."Esmerelda said changing her tense before she carried on speaking"in the same year as the girl" Esmerelda told Grace explaining how Mildred and Grace were similar.

"Oh well I won't ask how she discovered she was a witch, I only discovered it as I am the worst at directions and ended up at the wrong school's open day" Grace told her friend and Esmie had to laugh at the thought. Grace really was the worse at directions, she still got lost going to Esmerelda's bedroom at times.

"I bet the school were shocked as well as you" Esmerelda replied laughing more thinking of the reactions as to some random girl of the street strolling in to a magical school.

"Oh they were but finding out I was a witch was amazing to me, I had always wanted to do magic, the school I went to was one that you had to pay for so they let me in without a exam luckily" Grace told her friend.

"Which school was it?" Esmerelda asked curiously.

"Moonlight Academy" Grace replied saying the name of her former school.

"Oh yes I know where it is" Esmerelda replied knowing the names and locations of most of the magical schools "Though my family attend Cackles" Esmerelda replied feeling confident now to give her school name now she knew Grace was a witch.

"Yes, I remember someone mentioning your family at some point and saying their girls went to Cackles" Grace replied with a smile.

Esmerelda nodded but was still confused as to why Grace as actually here.

* * *

"I don't understand...why did you end up here?" Esmerelda asked the girl.

"Well I don't know about Cackles but my school was very prejudice, they didn't like the fact I was from a non-witching family and the students and teachers never let me forget it" Grace replied sadly and for once Esmerelda understood how Mildred must feel being the only girl from a non-witching family in the school and how people treated her so differently because of it, it was true Esmerelda herself had never treated Mildred differently because of this as she did not really care where the girl was from but she had never really thought how badly it must affect Mildred to be in a school where you are treated differently because of your family origin.

"Stupid Witches Code meant the teachers didn't try to catch me up on anything, they left me to it, I mean it is like you, you have no idea half the time what is going on in our subjects here and I was exactly the same" Grace told her friend and Esmerelda nodded now having experienced it for herself and knew exactly how it felt to be so behind everyone and not having anyone to help you.

"So you left the school because of bullying?" Esmerelda asked her friend trying to clarify and making sure she had got it right.

"Negative" Grace replied with a sigh and Esmerelda looked at her once again confused.

"I got myself expelled, you see because of my heritage a lot of the students liked to play tricks on me and one day I had had enough of the bullies and told them I was really a witch and challenged one of them to a duel" Grace replied sadly.

"Uh oh" Esmerelda replied knowing however this ended it would not be good. Witches Duels never ended well.

"The girl took me up on the offer, she didn't tell me any rules or anything or the fact that if I lost I lost my powers...I learned that later, but anyway the thing is my little knowledge of the witching world made it so I did not know certain spells were illegal and I used this spell that caused the girl's body to appear in burns...it meant instant expulsion" Grace told Esmerelda with a sigh as she remembered the memory.

"That is really awful" Esmerelda replied knowing from what the girl said she was set up because if she had not being expelled she would have lost her powers.

"I know, after I was expelled I had a mental breakdown, I felt like the last few years of my life were a lie and everyone was out to get me, they thought I was nuts going on about witches so they sent me here" Grace replied finally admitting why she was in this place.

* * *

For the first time in her life Esmerelda felt ashamed for a moment of her heritage, she felt ashamed her people could drive a girl to the point of ending up mentally breaking down just because she was not born into their world.

"I am sorry" Esmerelda replied feeling guilty for being part of the world that hurt the girl so much.

"It is not your fault, actually I am shocked you are so...accepting" Grace told her friend as she had never met anyone accepting of witches like her before.

"I try not to judge people" Esmerelda replied with a small smile "Do you still have your magic?" Esmerelda asked curiously knowing sometimes it was taken after expulsion.

"I still have it but I haven't used my powers in so long, after what happened I wanted to forget I had powers" Grace admitted up until this point she had not used them since the day she was expelled.

"My powers are non-existent right now because of the grief" Esmerelda told her friend a little more about her.

"But you just cursed that girl" Grace replied laughing at the memory "I could tell it was magic straight away" Grace told Esmerelda having seen enough to know when someone was using magic.

"Sometimes magic can happen when you are really angry or scared, as for being in control of my powers I am not" Esmerelda told her friend explaining that she could not control her magic right now.

"I miss being a witch, it was so fun and interesting" Grace admitted wishing she could go back to that world, she hated the people but loved being a witch.

"I can teach you more about witchcraft" Esmerelda suggested as she really would like to talk about something she actually knew about for once.

"Really? Okay I will help you with your schoolwork if you help me with witches studies" Grace told her friend desperate to know more about the other world she was apart of

"Deal" Esmerelda agreed liking that they would be helping each other.

Both girls later found out Laura Brown's leg was broken in two places and Esmerelda did not realise at the time what that meant for her and that her tutoring of her friend would be put on hold...


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

The next morning after breakfast neither girl had any lessons as it was a Saturday so after they had finished eating they decided to start helping each other study and went their separate ways in order to gather the books they needed, Grace would be going to Esmerelda's room once she had collected her books.

Esmerelda casually opened her bedroom door and got the shock of her life when she did, her bedroom was completely trashed, papers were everywhere, her drawers had being emptied out, her bedclothes pulled off, but it was what she noticed when she walked into her bedroom more that made her upset.

The doll she had taken to carrying around everywhere with her had had its head pulled off and the stuffing pulled out and the messed up girl just sat looking at it and crying.

* * *

Grace collected her books and walked the short journey to her friends room when she saw the bullies laughing about something.

"Hey if I were you I would study in your bedroom" Laura Brown told her and Grace rolled her eyes ignoring her and then walked to Esmerelda's room and opened the door unable to hide her shock by the state of the bedroom.

"Oh my goodness" Grace said as she looked around the room with her mouth opened in shock. She walked around the things on the floor and then spotted a smashed photo-frame on the floor, the glass was completely smashed to pieces but the picture seemed to be okay so she gently moved the glass a side to grab the picture and then she heard sobbing and looked over at her friend sitting on the floor crying.

"Esmie" Grace said walking closer to her before noticing the doll and kneeling next to her to look at it and realised it was easy to fix something Esmerelda had clearly not noticed as she was really upset. Grace put the stuffing back in and realised there was once a string holding the head on but it had been ripped out, the girl reached down and pulled out her shoelace cheering to herself when she managed to get it through the fabric of the body and managed to reattach the doll back together.

"Esmie, it is okay look I fixed it" Grace told her friend who had not looked up since she entered the room but the girl lifted her head with tears streaming down her face and took the doll smiling slightly at her friend gratefully.

"Thank you" Esmerelda said wiping her eyes and Grace sat next to her not looking forward to bursting her bubble again.

"Here..." Grace said handing her friend the picture from the photo frame "The frame is smashed I would fix it with M-A-G-I-C for you know what but I am so rusty I don't think I can" Grace told Esmerelda "But hey at least the picture is alright" Grace told her friend happy the picture was not scratched or damaged.

* * *

Esmerelda who was sitting in front of her bed put her head on her bed frame as she looked at the picture sadly. It was one of her favourites and it was actually the first picture of them together. Esmerelda beaming for the camera her new baby sister in her arms so proud that she was a big sister, she always felt her heart fill with happiness at that picture which is why she framed it, it might be the oldest one but it was still one of her favourites.

"It is a really nice picture" Grace told her friend trying to cheer her up slightly.

Esmerelda stared at the picture not replying her heart aching with hurt as she missed her sister so much.

"Ethie..." Esmerelda said simply tears falling out of her eyes again.

Grace could of gone and killed the bullies right now, Esmerelda was finally doing well and started slowly to recover and this had just knocked her right down again. Grace did not even know what to say in response to her friend.

"I am sorry Esmie" Grace replied with a sigh not knowing what else to say.

"What if she didn't know?" Esmerelda asked clearly in a panic about something, Grace looked at her friend wondering what she meant.

"Know what?" Grace asked gently not wanting to pry to much.

"That I loved her" Esmerelda told Grace clearly worried her sister had died thinking no-one would really care.

"Of course she knew, you kept that old photo all these years how could she not know?" Grace asked her logically.

"Because she thought I was only nice to her because she was my sister, basically she thought I was only nice to her out of duty" Esmerelda told Grace explaining why she was so fearful.

"She knew, deep down she knew the truth I mean it is flaming obvious how much you love her" Grace replied using the present tense because Esmerelda still loved her sister after all.

"What if she was scared? What if she suffered? What if.." Esmerelda went on finally the thought of what actually caused her sister's death coming to her and the thought of her really suffering by herself was making her hysterical.

"You can't think like that" Grace told her friend knowing she would make herself ill if she kept asking all them questions.

"You are right, she would tell me to stop fussing so much" Esmerelda told Grace knowing her sister would shake her head and roll her eyes at how much she was panicking over it.

"You know Ethel was extremely lucky, I mean she has a sister who loves her so much, most siblings don't get on very well" Grace told Esmerelda. She had met siblings before most of the time they wanted to pretend they were not even related.

"No ..I was the lucky one getting Ethie" Esmerelda replied looking at the picture fondly.

"Let's say you are both lucky" Grace replied to settle matters. Grace watched as Esmerelda cuddled the now fixed doll in her arms and smiled.

"That doll was brought because she looks like Ethel right?" Grace asked her friend who nodded.

"Creepily alike actually, my doll didn't even look like me that much but Ethel's was like the spitting image" Esmerelda replied cuddling the doll more.

"Well she was clearly pretty then" Grace commented as the doll was pretty with her blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Oh yes she was, I was so jealous that she had blue eyes and Sybil and I ended up with brown" Esmerelda told Grace truthfully as she had always being jealous her sister got the prettiest eyes. Ethel might of being jealous of how clever Esmerelda was but Esmerelda had something she was jealous of too.

"Well I have brown hair and brown eyes, talk about boring, be grateful your combination is at least somewhat interesting" Grace replied hating her bland simple looks and Esmerelda laughed slightly at that.

"This was one of the best moments of my life" Esmerelda commented still looking at the picture of her and baby Ethel.

"You are a strange one you know" Grace commented "Most children are resentful of their new baby sibling because they don't want to share their parents" Grace told her friend shaking her head in amazement that her friend had never felt jealous she would no longer be a only child.

* * *

"Yes well, I hated being a only child, I wanted someone to play with and I like looking after people" Esmerelda replied explaining why she had been so desperate for a sister.

"So you were never jealous at all?" Grace asked wondering how long it had taken the girl to accept her new sister.

"No never, when I first met Ethie I will admit as excited as I was I was terrified as well, I had waited so long for a sister and I wondered if having one will live up to my expectations, I was also worried that I would end up wishing I was alone again or that we just would never be close" Esmerelda told Grace admitting how scared she was about meeting her sister.

"But she met your expectations?" Grace asked her friend.

"She was much better than I hoped for, I fell in love with her straight away and never fell out of love again" Esmerelda explained to Grace who was smiling before Esmie carried on.

"Ethel was the one who found it difficult, she hated Sybil when she was born" Esmerelda told Grace remembering it had taken a lot time for her sister to get used to not being the youngest and Sybil being there.

"The thing is I think she was worried about sharing me, she didn't want to have to share me with another sister and she was worried no-one would bother with her anymore but she was wrong" Esmerelda went on.

"How so?" Grace asked super interested.

"Well my parents were already off with Ethie before Sybil was born so when my parents were fussing over Sybil I fussed over Ethie" Esmerelda told her friend a little more about herself. "If this picture had got damaged I don't know what I would have done" Esmerelda told Grace staring at the picture again.

"Thankfully it was spared, we need to get revenge on them idiots" Grace said angrily.

"You think it was Brown and her cronies?" Esmerelda asked.

"Brown practically admitted it to me in the corridor plus who else would do this?" Grace asked making a good point. Esmerelda wiped her eyes placed the doll on the bed and looked at Grace.

"Come on let's go talk to Miss Brown" Esmerelda told Grace wanting to take revenge of the girl for what she had done she was past being the person to sit there and keep quiet she wanted to take action.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

Esmerelda and Grace walked downstairs to the living room where they found Laura and the rest of her little gang sat down giggling and Esmerelda knew the topic of discussion that was making them laugh, the blonde walked over to the gang and stood in front of Laura with her arms folded.

"Aww what is wrong?" Laura asked innocently.

"You know what is wrong, you trashed my bedroom" Esmerelda replied annoyed, Laura looked at the girl and smirked.

"Why don't you prove it?" the girl told her knowing she had no prove at all.

"You knew something was wrong with her room as you told me I was better of studying in mine" Grace butt in sticking up for her friend.

"So what?" Laura replied "Maybe I happened to walk past and see her bedroom was trashed, I was just a innocent bystander" Laura played along loving Esmerelda getting wound up.

Esmerelda glared at Laura never in her life had she felt such a hatred for someone like this before, the girl was sick and rude but if the girl wanted to play a game she could play the game too.

Esmerelda lifted her hand showing Laura the picture from the frame that Grace had rescued and made sure the girl had seen it before she started to talk.

"This picture was nearly destroyed and let me tell you something, you are dead lucky it wasn't" Esmerelda told her enemy glaring at her the whole time, Grace stood up despite having a broken leg as she had a walking boot on.

"Yes well freak you deserved to have that picture destroyed" Laura told the blonde girl shouting near her face.

"I am not a freak, I am grieving" Esmerelda replied wondering how Laura could think she was a freak for losing her sister, she didn't get it.

"I am not talking about that you idiot, I am talking about my leg...I know it was you that broke it" Laura replied Esmerelda and Laura's faces inches from each other.

Esmerelda knew she had to choose her words carefully now, she could not tell Laura that she had powers or she would be carted of to a mental hospital.

"I didn't even touch you" Esmerelda replied honestly has after all she had not touched a hair on the girl.

"Oh what so you are saying my leg just decided to snap of it's own accord?" Laura asked Esmerelda and Grace and the other bullies looked back and forth between them.

"I don't know what happened to your leg all I know is I did not go near it" Esmerelda replied really becoming annoyed now.

Grace suddenly stepped away from her and grabbed the photograph out of Esmerelda's hand before she even had a chance to realise what she was doing and then Laura ran to to the other end of the room with it in her hands, once Esmerelda realised what she was doing she ran towards Laura but she stopped when she realised Laura was holding a lighter to the photograph.

* * *

"Let's not be silly now Esmerelda" Laura told her taunting her knowing it was killing her inside to think of her beloved picture being burned.

"Give it back" Esmerelda told Laura shaking with rage and fear.

"All in good time Esmerelda, now tell me how you broke my leg without touching it" Laura replied glaring at the blonde girl and Esmerelda realised the girl was not as dumb as she had thought, she knew something was going on.

"I didn't break it, it wasn't me" Esmerelda replied staring at her photograph worried.

"I saw that look in your eyes, your eyes flashed white did you not know?" Laura asked the girl and Esmerelda shook her head having had no idea that had happened, only Esmerelda and Laura were facing each other so no-one else would have spotted it.

"I don't know what happened, my photograph please..." Esmerelda said stepping forward but Laura halted her.

"It was almost as if you were cursing me" Laura replied not yet finished saying what she wanted to say.

"But there is no such thing as curses" Esmerelda replied not knowing what else she could say.

"I did not think so either, but I see no other way my injury could have happened, you might think you can hide it from me Hallow but I know what I saw, you did something to me which caused my leg to be broken" Laura told the blonde girl as she smirked.

"Look I don't know what happened to your stupid leg, now give me my picture!" Esmerelda screamed making a grab for it but Laura flicked the lighter burning the corner which soon spread burning the photograph.

"NOO" Esmerelda screamed taking Laura completely of guard when she grabbed the burning picture in her hand the flame burning her hand before she dropped it on the floor and she leaped on top of Laura attacking her.

Grace ran to the picture but only managed to save a tiny part of it, most of it was pretty badly burned and she then looked up at the fight that was going on worried literally thinking Esmerelda was going to murder Laura.

* * *

Esmerelda and Laura rolled around the floor fighting one another as the rest of the bullies stood back not wanting to get involved in it. Grace tried to pull Esmerelda of the girl but to no avail so the fighting went on.

"Should we go get help?" Rachael asked worried the girls were going to seriously hurt one another and feeling like this had gotten way out of hand.

"Not yet, it will be best if we can try sort it ourselves" Jasmine replied in a concerned way as she watched her friend and Esmerelda fighting on the ground.

Esmerelda was very smart so had taken to wearing her locket all the time and hiding it under her school blouse so that the teachers would not notice it, as she was rolling around the floor with Laura her locket came out from her blouse and hanged loosely around her neck clearly in Laura's sight.

"Oh look, the rich slut breaks the rules" Laura said before she grabbed a hold of the locket pulling it off the girl's neck and snapping the chain.

Esmerelda thought she could not possibly get any more angry than she was but in that moment she knew she had being wrong, never in her life had she felt this angry before, she attacked the girl again starting to try pull the locket out of Laura's hand who laughed clearly enjoying herself.

"You are so weak" Laura said with a laugh as the girl failed to grab her locket back of her.

The thing was Esmerelda was literally losing control, this time she could feel it, she could feel her magic about to explode but she was not able to control her magic right now.

"Come on , come and get the locket before it gets broken" Laura replied laughing as she swung the locket around teasing the girl.

That was what did it. Esmerelda's eyes flashed red and Laura suddenly let out a eye-piercing scream as her chest and stomach turned bright red, as her body was slashed again and again. The girl looked like someone had cut her repeatedly with a knife.

* * *

"GO GET HELP" Jasmine shouted as she saw more and more blood appear on her friend and Esmerelda stared at her in shock.

"What did you do? Freak!" Nicky shouted at the blonde girl.

Rachael returned leading the headmistress, Miss Browning, to the scene. The woman took one look at the young girl who was barely conscious from how much blood she had lost and asked what had happened.

"It was Esmerelda Hallow!" Jasmine shouted accusing the girl.

"I never touched her!" Esmerelda replied not wanting to get into trouble for it.

"She is a freak, she is a witch who cursed her!" Nicky replied dramatically.

"I didn't!" Esmerelda replied.

Unfortunately for Esmerelda, Miss Browning hated her and Laura's injuries were clearly bad and were obviously intentional so the woman told the twins to go call the a ambulance and the police.

"NO I DIDN'T DO IT!" Esmerelda shouted.

"She did Miss, she was the only one near her" Jasmine replied glaring at Esmerelda.

Esmerelda felt her breathe hitching and she ran from the scene not knowing where she was going all she knew was she had to get out of the school. She had to get out of there now one way or another before she was carted off, so she ran as fast as she could hearing Grace calling her in the background but not stopping just running further and further upwards, taking flight of stairs after flight of stairs.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

Esmerelda kept running not slowing down or stopping to look back until she realised she had reached as high as she could go, she was in a old attic that she could only get out of if she went downstairs except if she climbed out the window across the room. The young blonde quickly pushed a chair in front of the door blocking it and threw open the window to access how far down it was.

Esmerelda felt really dizzy as she looked out realising how high she was, she must be at least twenty feet from the ground and then she screamed as thundered erupted overhead, the only escape was if she could reach the window on the other side but how?

Esmerelda did not have to much time to form a plan because just then she heard voices and movement outside the door and she knew her game was almost up, looking around at the old junk in the attic she spotted a plank of wood and ran over to the window placing it as a ledge between her window and the one next door.

She turned around and gasped as the door flew opened and Grace was dragged in by a teacher and she was clearly going to be next. Miss Browning, the head teacher appeared with a police officer and Esmerelda ran and started climbing onto the ledge she had formed walking across it which was not as easy as it sounded.

The ledge itself was very narrow and it was pouring with rain and there was a huge storm going on, thunder and lightening crackled overhead and the girl screamed thinking she was about to be struck by lightening knowing if she fell it was instant death as she was so high up.

It took the people who had just ran into the room a few moments to realise what she was doing but when they did Miss Browning ran forward grabbing Esmerelda by the back of her top trying to pull her back in but the only thing this caused was the girl to wobble and she screamed loudly as the plank of wood started to fall along with her.

Esmerelda closed her eyes not wanting to see herself hit the ground, it would be better if she just felt it and it would be over, it wouldn't be to bad anyway she would have Ethie again, she waited expecting to hit the ground any second now...any second now.

Esmerelda dared to open her eyes as she realised she was not hitting the ground and that was when she realised she was floating in the air almost as if by magic.

That was when she realised Grace was casting a spell, the girl had not done magic since she was expelled from school and she was so rusty to the point she could not remember any spells but it seemed in her panic the girl had naturally thought of using magic and before Esmerelda had to much time to react to this she fell hard onto the window ledge next door.

"Oww" Esmerelda moaned as she rubbed her arm as she stood up.

"Sorry" she saw Grace mouth through gritted teeth before the girl was grabbed from behind by Miss Browning. Esmerelda saw the commotion across the way and knew she had to help Grace but right now she had not way to do that, first she had to find someone to help her so with this thought she opened the window that belonged to next door and started to climb through.

* * *

As the girl's feet touched ground in the house there she realised she was in a pitch black house and realised the storm must have caused a power cut.

Esmerelda started to feel around in the dark to find where she was ignoring the fact she was drenched through from the rain but the girl was not getting very far all she could not make anything out or find anything to grab on to.

The girl took small steps walking slowly still feeling around in the dark but suddenly found herself falling and landing on a hard wooden floor, the girl moaned her arm hurting a lot and she assumed she had just fallen down some stairs.

All seemed quiet in the house and she wondered if anyone was in when she heard the sound of a doorbell being rang and then a small piece of conversation.

"Let us in, a girl from our school has escaped into your house" Esmerelda heard the familiar voice of Miss Browning say.

"What are you talking about?" Esmerelda heard a female voice she had never heard before say.

"There is no time to explain just let us search before the brat finds a way to escape" Miss Browning replied harshly regarding Esmerelda.

"That is a really harsh thing to say about your pupil" Another unfamiliar voice replied, this time a male one.

"Yes well I am not here to discuss my teaching skills now let me in" Miss Browning replied as Esmerelda assumed the woman tried to push past the people in the doorway as she heard voices saying no pushing and stop it.

Esmerelda jumped up and ran in the opposite direction from where she could hear the voices not having any idea where she was going as it was still pitch black, she hoped the lights would come back on soon so she could find somewhere to hide.

She continued to feel around in the dark being extra careful this time as she took steps not wanting to fall down the stairs again, her arm was already hurting quite a lot she didn't want a broken leg as well.

The voices from Miss Browning and the others over at her school suddenly grew louder and she started to search in the dark quicker wishing more than anything she had powers right now that she could control so she could do a spell to light the way or even if she had a torch she would be happy but unfortunately she had no such luck.

* * *

As Esmerelda walked she suddenly screamed as she tripped over again but this time she tripped over a person because she heard them say "Ouch you kicked me in the ribs" Esmerelda was just about to comment really annoyed that it was their own fault for deciding to lie on the floor when it was pitch black when she fell from something soft onto the floor and realised she had either being on a bed or a sofa. It was quite late at night so it would not be to much of a stretch to assume the person had been sleeping until she had just kicked them.

"Sorry I can't see a thing" Esmerelda commented as she started to feel around in the dark again with a sigh.

Out of nowhere Esmerelda saw a light appear, it was such a tiny light she knew it was a candle but for the first time since she had arrived in the house she had a tiny light source to guide her.

"Who are you?" the voice from earlier said, Esmerelda could tell the person sounded quite young and they were most definitely not a adult.

It was at that moment everything got to much for the young girl, she was completely drenched, her arm was either sprained or broken, she couldn't see, she was on the run not having any idea where she was going, she was worried about Grace and she had lost her sister

The girl slid down using the small light source as a guide before sitting on the floor putting her knees to her chest not answering the person who was talking as she started to cry and shake from fear and being cold from her drenched clothing.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

The girl who was holding the candle could not see much but she could hear the other person crying and was worried about her.

"Don't cry I didn't mean to scare you" the girl said as she heard the other girl crying more. "What is your name?" the mysterious girl asked.

"Esmerelda..." the girl replied quietly.

"I am Jennifer" the other girl replied happily "How did you get in here?" Jennifer asked Esmerelda curiously.

"I climbed through the window from next door" Esmerelda admitted to the other girl quietly.

"Oh you are from next door?" "Awesome, I am glad you are here I am so bored here by myself" Jennifer told Esmerelda.

As she spoke Esmerelda touched her head recognising the voice of whoever was speaking ..it sounded like...no it wasn't...she must just sound similar.

"Well I can't stay to long, sorry" Esmerelda told the girl knowing as soon as the lights came on she would have to figure out a way to leave.

"Oh why not?" Jennifer asked disappointed that she was about to lose the first person she can speak to that was her age.

"I have to leave, you don't understand sorry" Esmerelda told Jennifer feeling bad about letting her down but she really had no choice.

"That is a shame, but maybe my foster parents can talk to your headteacher and you can come over sometime" Jennifer replied not realising the girl was not going back to the school.

"I don't think that will work somehow..." Esmerelda replied not wanting to get into everything that was going on now. The thunder suddenly loomed overhead and Jennifer screamed.

"Sorry...I really hate the thunder" Jennifer told Esmerelda explaining why she had screamed and Esmerelda laughed slightly.

"I don't mind it, my sisters are both scared of it so I am the one who has to comfort them as I am the eldest" Esmerelda told Jennifer explaining why she wasn't scared.

"You have sisters?" "Cool...I wish I had a sibling it is so boring by myself" Jennifer replied to Esmerelda.

"Yes it is great being a sister..." Esmerelda replied failing to mention that Ethel was deceased as she did not really want to get into that right now.

"Yes it must be, you always have someone to be with, the only people I only ever get to be with are my foster parents" Jennifer replied with a sigh.

Esmerelda was just about to ask the young girl why she was not in school thinking maybe the girl was homeschooled when there was a funny noise and the lights suddenly came back on.

"Oh finally" Jennifer said blowing out the candle she was holding.

Esmerelda realising the girl was not a threat to her lifted her head of her knees to talk to Jennifer properly.

That was when she saw the girl and was in so much shock she fell silent and could not even gasp, she blinked trying to adjust her eyes more to the sudden bright light and when her focus came back she realised she wasn't dreaming...it was Ethel.

* * *

She wasn't even sure if it was she dreaming? Was she going mad? But there was no doubt about it she WAS Ethel, Esmerelda knew her sister and this girl was definitely her, she had the same freckle on her left cheek, the same blonde hair but it was her eyes that told Esmerelda it was Ethel, Esmerelda had fallen in love with Ethel all those years ago because of her eyes, Esmerelda had looked in the girls eyes for years seeing sadness and despair but also happiness and love. Of course many people had blue eyes but this girl had Ethel's eyes, Esmerelda knew the girls eyes so well and that is how she knew somehow...in someway she was talking to Ethel.

"Nice to put a face to a name" Jennifer replied with a smile.

Esmerelda did not understand why the girl was calling herself Jennifer but right now she didn't care about that, she stared at her for a few moments unable to move or speak before she could only say one thing.

"Ethie" Esmerelda said in amazement as she looked at the girl.

Jennifer narrowed her eyebrows looking at her confused as to who she was talking to.

"Ethie" Esmerelda said again still not able to utter anything else her body so shocked.

"Erm what?" Jennifer said looking at the other girl confused and if anything a bit concerned.

Esmerelda forced herself to stand barely able to even hold her weight with her shock but she smiled slightly and said "Ethie" again and Jennifer looked behind her wondering if there was someone behind her she was speaking to.

"Who are you talking to?" Jennifer asked her as she looked at the other blonde girl confused.

Esmerelda was normally quite a calm person but there had been moments when she saw Ethel that she would be running up to her like a little child and right now, after all these months, after thinking she was not alive, she could not help running over to the younger girl and grabbing her screaming 'Ethie' in the process. She tried to hug her but the girl rejected it.

"My name is Jennifer" the younger girl replied confused as to what was happening.

"Ethie...Ethie...it is me Esmerelda!" Esmie yelled in response grabbing onto the girl.

"I don't know who you are" Jennifer said in response having no idea who this girl was wondering if she was confused.

"How can you not remember me Ethie...I am your sister!" Esmerelda practically screamed at her starting to become hysterical.

"I am a only child" Ethel replied her mind still a blur, she didn't know this girl at all. Even when she looked at her up close her mind told her she was a stranger. Esmerelda became even worse as she realised Ethel had no idea who she was, she could see the confusion in the girls eyes.

"No you are not how can you not remember... REMEMBER SYBIL AND OUR GRANDPARENTS" Esmie said as she grabbed tightly onto Ethel "REMEMBER CACKLES AND THE SPELLING BEE AND WITCHCRAFT AND AGATHA TAKING MY POWERS AND YOU AND MILDRED FIGHTING AND THE GREAT WIZARD AND THE LOCKET WITH OUR PICTURES IN IT AND YOU RESCUSING ME FROM THE CASTLE WHEN I WAS A TROPHY!" Esmerelda yelled at the girl needing her to remember all this, she needed her to remember who she was.

But Jennifer could not remember any of it, none of it made sense to her it was a blur. Nothing was coming back to her either.

"COME ON ETHIE, YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER" Esmerelda screamed shaking her as she cried as her teachers appeared having of heard the noise she was making as after all she was being loud.

"I don't know what you mean" Jennifer replied afraid in that moment as to what was happening.

"What on earth?" Miss Browning said seeing her pupil shaking the other girl.

* * *

"IT IS ETHIE, MY SISTER, IT IS ETHIE!" Esmerelda screamed at her as Jennifer just looked scared and confused.

"Your sister is dead you stupid girl!" Miss Browning shouted at her, Grace stepped forward thinking Esmerelda had gotten confused in her vulnerable state but when she saw Jennifer and the similarities between her friend and the younger girl even she was taken aback.

"Oh my goodness" Grace said thinking this really was Ethel she had seen pictures of her and she was the spitting image.

"Enough of this foolishness, are you just going to stand there?" "This girl attacked a pupil so arrest her before this poor girl is her next victim" Miss Browning said angrily.

The officers nodded to each other and the three of them walked up to Esmerelda grabbing her from behind and starting to pull her away from Jennifer who did not know what to do as the girl was dragged away.

"NO ETHIE, ETHIE" Esmerelda shouted as she was dragged away, Grace was just about to go up to Ethel to shake some sense into her when she was also dragged away.

"ETHIE, ETHIE, ETHIE, ETHIE, ETHIE, ETHIE" the girl went on and on screaming for her sister and Jennifer's foster mother ran up to her foster child.

"Do you know who that was?" Emily asked looking at her foster daughter concerned.

"ETHIE,ETHIE, ETHIE, ETHIE" Esmerelda screamed and despite the fact she was being dragged further away her screaming was still so loud it was able to be heard.

Jennifer was about to reply but the ringing of the name 'Ethie' was in her ears as Esmerelda screamed it as loud as she could repeatedly and something was starting to come back to her from that name.


	23. Chapter 23

A/N- Writing in italics is memories. Enjoy.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Three

Something was coming back to Jennifer slowly, memories seemed to be flooding her mind fast before she was seeing moments from her old life in flashes.

 _She was running around a large house with two other girls laughing and joking around the whole time._

 _She was nervous and dressed up, the girl she had just seen had her arm around her and was talking quietly to her as if she could sense she was nervous._

 _Then the scene changed, she was at a school she suspected as she was in uniform arguing with a dark-haired girl._

 _She was making a potion before having a fight with said girl and they both fell on the floor before a woman who was dressed in a dark dress loomed overhead of them looking really angry._

 _A older woman turned Esmerelda into a trophy leaving the other girl stood there in shock._

 _The building was collapsing and Jennifer ran through the school with the trophy before the girl turned back and they leaped on each other hugging on another._

 _She was back in the house she was in earlier and Esmerelda handed her a box which she opened and inside was a beautiful locket, when she opened it her picture and Esmerelda's was inside and Jennifer smiled hugging the girl really happy._

 _Jennifer saw herself arguing with another blonde girl who had walked into her room without knocking._

 _She saw herself on a bridge walking causally before the bridge collapsed under her and her and another girl fell in the water underneath, she saw herself rescuing the other blonde who grabbed her locket pulling it off in her panic as she carried her._

 _Lastly Jennifer saw herself and the girl who had been screaming Ethie sat on a bed both of them fairly young as Jennifer asked her a question._

" _Esmie...why do you call me Ethie?" the young girl asked the older girl as she moved a stray hair out of her face._

" _You know why, I still was stuttering my words at two when you were born and totally butchered up your name so you became Ethie" Esmerelda replied chuckling at her sisters silly question._

" _Yes I know that but why is it only YOU who calls me it?" Jennifer asked another question._

" _Well..I don't know that, the adults always called you Ethel because they thought I would grow out of calling you Ethie I guess but I never did, now remember only I am allowed to call you Ethie, if someone else does I will..." Esmerelda trailed off not able to think about what she would do to them._

" _You will curse them or knock them of their broomstick!" Ethel replied thinking of something she would do in that situation causing Esmerelda to laugh and shake her head as she hugged her more._

* * *

Jennifer came back to reality and gasped out as everything came back to her in that moment. She wasn't Jennifer! She was Ethel Hallow, she had two sisters, she was a witch and went to a witches boarding school, she and Mildred were enemies...everything came back to her, her whole life came back to her in that moment, she could remember she had her memory back.

"Jennifer are you okay?" Emily her foster mother asked her really concerned.

Jennifer turned to look at her foster mother clearly in utter shock and shook her head.

"There is only one person who ever calls me Ethie...Esmerelda" Ethel said as she ran past Emily leaving the poor woman confused but the woman was not sure what on earth was happening anyway so she let the girl run past her.

Ethel ran then as fast as she could, the cries of her sister were become fainter as if she was being led further and further away so Ethel rushed down the stairs knowing if her sister was led away she might never find her again, this was her last chance.

She made it to the front door of the house and flew open the door looking at the scene outside, the other girl that had been with her sister was struggling with one police man but it was to no avail because she was forced into a police car, of course Ethel had no idea in that moment why the hell they were being arrested but there was no time to worry about that right now as Esmerelda was still struggling with the policemen and Grace was already in the car, it was now or never.

* * *

"ESMIE" Ethel shouted standing in the doorway causing everyone who was outside to stop and look at her confused, Esmerelda who up to that point had being shouting and struggling with the policemen fell quiet and just stood for a while staring at Ethel.

Ethel could tell everyone around her was shocked so she stepped outside of the doorway and looked at her sister starting to slowly walk to her not worried about the fact she was getting drenched to the bone, she really could not care less in that moment.

Esmerelda watched her sister for a few moments walking towards her before realising the officers had let go off her in their shock at seeing Ethel and when she realised that she ran towards her sister meeting her halfway and threw her arms around her squeezing her tightly, not knowing or caring at that moment how her sister had seemed to come back from the dead just needing to hug her.

Ethel hugged back as she really did remember now, she remembered her sister and she realised in that moment how much she had missed her, the two girls held each other for ages and everyone just watched them, in the confusion Grace stepped out the car and stood to watch smiling and cheering.

Both girls found themselves in tears at that moment but they did not let go of each other but Esmerelda did talk quietly so only Ethel could hear.

"Ethie..." Esmerelda said through a sob, the one word she had been saying for the last few months not able to say anything else, needing to know it was really her.

"Yes it is me Esmie" Ethel replied through her tears not sure how on earth she had ended up in the place she had but needing to reassure her sister they had somehow found each other.

Esmerelda pulled away from the hug for a few seconds to kiss her sister on the head and then went back to hugging her again barely able to breathe through the crying she was doing, all she knew was she never wanted to let Ethel go again.

"Where is Sybil?" Ethel asked wondering the whereabouts of their younger sister.

"It is a long story" Esmerelda told her as she suddenly felt a funny feeling in her fingers and looking down she realised sparks were at the end of her fingers as if telling her her magic was back to normal, the happiness had brought her powers back.

Esmerelda beamed more and hugged Ethel again both of them getting drenched but not wanting to let go of each other...not yet. Esmerelda started to plant kisses on Ethel before someone spoke.

* * *

"This is a disgrace, this blonde girl is not her sister, her sister is dead and buried" Miss Browning said harshly refusing to believe what she was seeing.

At that Esmerelda pulled away from the hug but kept one arm around her sister as she beamed.

"Oh this is Ethie alright!" the girl replied unable to wipe the grin of her face. Miss Browning suddenly stormed up to the girl angrily.

"I NEVER LIKED YOU, YOU SPOILED, USELESS, LITTLE.." Miss Browning said shouting at her but whatever Esmerelda was no-one got to hear as Ethel pushed in front of her to talk to the woman.

"Oi leave her alone, unless you want to be hung upside down by your feet" Ethel yelled at her getting in her face.

"SHE IS EVIL, SHE IS A WITCH!" Miss Browning shouted to the crowd.

"Yes, so am I, and trust me you don't want to anger a witch because we can be nice but we can be evil, if you like having teeth in your mouth I suggest you get lost" Ethel shouted at her. Of course to Miss Browning Ethel saying she was a 'witch' probably did not mean the type of witch she was talking about.

"Yes push off, or I will tell everyone how you let a poor vulnerable grieving girl be bullied and did nothing about it, I am sure your job will be on the line" Grace butt in speaking for the first time as she smiled.

Miss Browning walked away from Esmerelda and towards the policemen really scared as to what will happen after seeing what Esmerelda was capable of and knew it was time to set the record straight.

"There was a misunderstanding, it was just a silly teenage fight, I overreacted" the woman said fearfully, the officers did not look pleased.

"You wasted our time, that is it I am arresting you for wasting the time of a police officer" he said handcuffing her and leading her into the car to her protests.

Esmerelda, Ethel and Grace all laughed and waved saracatically as she was driven away none of them feeling sorry for her- she deserved it. Esmie and Ethel hugged again as one of the officers came up to them.

"I would go back to school before you catch hypothermia" he told them and the three girls nodded as they were left alone for the first time, all three drenched to the skin from that evenings events.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

The two sisters rushed through the door of the school with Grace following behind them, all three were drenched to the skin and were shivering. The three girls made quite a bit of noise as they travelled up the stairs and Rachael and Nicky Westbrook had been lost in conversation but stopped talking as they saw the three girls walk in.

The thing was even with Esmerelda and Ethel both dripping wet it was quite obvious they were sisters as they looked similar to one another, this caused Rachael to gasp out because she had seen the pictures of Ethel during fights with Laura and this girl was definitely Ethel and not the other sister Sybil. Both girls could do nothing more than stare.

Esmerelda rushed up the stairs still cuddling Ethel as if scared that if she didn't she would disappear again and walked into her bedroom which was still trashed.

"Sorry for the mess it's a long story" Esmerelda told her moving her hand happy to see some of the mess clear enough so they had space to sit down on the bed, her powers were clearly back and perfect.

* * *

"What on earth is this place?" Ethel asked going to sit on her sister's bed as she looked around, this was definitely not Cackle's.

"Well the thing is I was sent here because I was not able to cope with your death...well you missing...what is going on I don't understand how you can be here" Esmerelda told her sister as Grace leaned in the doorway listening but giving the sisters space.

"I had completely lost my memory, it is only when you called me Ethie that everything came back to me" Ethel replied not understanding herself what on earth was going on.

"But it makes no sense...mum and dad identified you...we buried you" Esmerelda said not understanding what was happening at all.

"Well that says it all then, what happened doesn't it?" Ethel replied a few seconds after without having to think about her response.

"What do you mean?" Esmerelda asked completely lost at to what had happened.

"Well if mum and dad identified me then clearly they got it wrong, Esmie, mum and dad barely know the colour of my eyes, they for sure don't know nearly enough to identify me" Ethel told her sister knowing it was obvious as to what had happened, their parents had screwed up and identified the person wrong because they know nothing about Ethel and all they saw was a blonde girl who 'looked like Ethel' so they just told themselves it was her.

Esmerelda could have slapped herself in the face at that, she was so stupid she realised for just taking her parents word for it, she knew that her parents did not know enough about their own daughter to be able to accurately identity her but at the time she was completely distraught and she knew she never would have got through identifying Ethel herself so she was happy to let them do that bit so she didn't have to...she thought she should have gotten her grandparents to double check but at the time it never entered her mind.

"Them idiots!" Esmerelda shouted out as this entered her mind in response to Ethel's theory "They put me through all that pain and heartache when you were alive the whole time!" Esmerelda shouted as she found herself bursting into tears from anger and relief Ethel was really okay. She cried gently. "I never told you I loved you enough" she said through her tears.

"Hey don't cry Esmie, I am fine honest" Ethel told her cuddling her more "You know when I could not remember anything I so wished I had a sister and I am so glad I do" Ethel told her to try make her feel better, Esmerelda grabbed a hold of Ethel crying silently.

"I nearly..." Esmerelda said not finishing her sentence but pulling away. "What if I had gone through with it and you were alive the whole time...?" Esmerelda said covering her mouth as the realisation came over her.

"What do you mean?" "You nearly what?" Ethel asked her sister not sure what she meant.

Despite Esmerelda and Ethel having not seen each other in months and months in that moment it was like they had never being apart, the sisters had always had a habit of communicating without speech and it seemed they still had that ability even now because Esmerelda looked at Ethel and gave her a look and Ethel just knew exactly what her sister meant.

"You...you were suicidal?" Ethel asked her sister her voice breaking as she choked.

Grace watched the exchange in confusion, both girls had forgotten she was there but Esmie nodded and cuddled her sister more.

"I didn't want to be without you...I have been a mess" Esmerelda admitted to her sister sadly.

"It is really true, she was just starting to recover" Grace replied to Ethel. Ethel looked up at the dark-haired girl with a look of confusion as if she had never seen her before even if she had been hanging around all evening.

"Who are you?" Ethel asked rudely

"Ethie be nice now, this is my friend Grace" Esmerelda told her sister feeling bad for forgetting her friend was even there but she had being focusing purely on her baby sister.

"Does she know about...you know?" Ethel asked looking at Esmerelda for confirmation and Esmerelda knew she was asking if Grace knew about magic.

"Yes, Grace is one of us" Esmerelda told her sister not giving to much away as she had no idea who was listening to them.

"I have been looking forward to meeting you Ethel, well I meant I wanted to meet you but I never thought I would get too, Esmerelda is right the doll is the spitting image of you" Grace told Ethel as she walked further into the room and closed the door.

* * *

"What doll?" Ethel asked Grace looking at her with confusion and Grace smiled, Esmerelda had being right, Ethel had the most gorgeous blue eyes, she could see why she was jealous of them.

"The blonde one" Grace said pointing to the doll on the bed and Ethel gasped and saw it picking it up.

"Addy!" The girl said hugging the doll happily "I love this doll" Ethel told Grace and Esmerelda hugged her sister tighter realising how much better it felt to hug Ethel and not a doll.

"Yes Esmie told me you did" Grace replied talking to the younger sister.

Ethel was surprised. Esmerelda did not like opening up to people very much so she was surprised she had told Grace so much but then again the girl was grieving she probably would have told a man at the bus stop the same thing, plus there was something about Grace Ethel couldn't place, naturally you felt comfortable with her.

"Oh by the way thanks for saving my life" Esmerelda said to Grace remembering to thank her for her quick act of thinking earlier that evening.

"Oh anytime, thanks for helping me with my rusty powers" Grace replied smiling at her friend happily.

"She saved your life?" "How?" Ethel asked her sister confused.

"I nearly fell of the roof and she used a spell to make me float and dropped me on the other side", "thanks for that" Esmerelda added as she looked at Grace and Grace laughed shrugging.

"I am still rusty" Grace replied explaining herself.

It was only then that the shock of her sister being alive started to wear off and talking about Grace saving her that Esmerelda felt the pain in her arm she had hurt that evening, when she had seen her little sister she had forgotten her pain, or rather she had not cared about it needing to hug her sister but now it ached and she moaned.

"You alright?" Ethel asked her sister really concerned as she saw her clutching her arm moaning in pain.

"I think I have sprained it or something, I fell down the stairs in your foster home" Esmerelda admitted remembering how she had stupidly done that.

"Well that was a bit daft" Grace replied seriously.

"I couldn't see a flaming thing, I didn't do it on purpose" Esmerelda replied rubbing her sore arm.

"I know" Ethel suggested "Why don't we dry off and then I can try fix your arm and then we can talk about everything" Ethel suggested to the older girls who looked down only then realising they were still soaking wet.

"Oh oops" Esmerelda said using a drying spell on all of them and a few seconds later they were bone dry.

Ethel then went to try and fix her sister's arm but Grace stopped her.

"Maybe we should wait, no offence but you are not a doctor it might make it worse" Grace told the younger girl as she knew healing spells were difficult especially for broken limbs.

"That is true" Ethel said as she realised the girl was right.

"Thanks Grace, let's forget about my arm for now...I want to hear the whole story from beginning to end" Esmie told Ethel.

"Okay but I want to hear everything that has been going on" Ethel replied.

"Alright" Esmerelda replied biting her lip not wanting to tell Ethel about everything she had done the last few months but she would as it was only fair and Ethel nodded and started to talk.


	25. Chapter 25

A/N: Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all have a amazing year and I hope to write even more stories this year so here is my first chapter for 2018, also has anyone seen the new Worst Witch trailer yet? Series Two looks amazing but shocking I cannot wait! Again I do not own the worst witch or the characters!

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Five

The three girls spent hours and hours speaking to each other explaining in detail everything that had happened over the last few months and Esmerelda was true to her word and explained everything to her sister even the bad stuff.

"What do we do now?" Grace asked leaning her chin on her arm bored after a while of sitting in silence.

"Well Miss Browning is gone but with Ethie not dead that must mean I can leave here right?" Esmerelda commented and Grace shrugged not sure about it.

"But that girl you attacked, her and her friends now know your secret" Ethel said worried about what this meant.

"Ethie if you were a normal girl and some random person came up to you saying witches exist what would you say to them?" Esmerelda asked her sister.

"I would probably say they are crazy and they have to prove it" Ethel replied knowing if the girls went up to a policeman and said that they would probably be taken to a mental hospital.

"Exactly, I don't think even they are stupid enough to do that" Esmerelda replied her arm still draped around her sister.

"Good point, or they will get in trouble for wasting their time" Grace replied logically.

"True, if they did tell on me they would be the ones getting into trouble not me" Esmerelda said trying to reassure Ethel she was safe.

"What are you going to do about your parents?" Grace asked looking at the older girl.

"I don't know yet, I will think more into that when I see them" Esmerelda replied not sure what she was going to do yet.

"But hey it might be a good thing, maybe your parents will finally treat you right Ethel" Grace commented as she turned her gaze to the younger blonde instead.

Ethel snorted before replying "They will probably be all over me for like a week but then they will grow tired of me again, it is alright I don't really care anymore" Ethel admitted not holding out much hope for things to change but she suddenly grew sad as something entered her mind.

"That poor other girl...I really did try to save her but I couldn't" Ethel commented with a sigh knowing as awesome as things had turned out for her with her finding her family again, the grieving process for the other little girl's family was only just about to begin.

"You did the best you could Ethie, I mean hey you could have just left her and saved yourself and then you probably would not have lost your memory but you chose to stay and try" Esmerelda replied happily as she was really proud of her sister for the bravery she had shown and how much she had tried to help the other girl.

"I am a witch, I should have been able to save her" Ethel replied blaming herself for the other young girls death.

"Hey I might have left my school early but I remember something someone once told me when I first started" Grace butt in not wanting the younger girl upset.

"What did they say?" Ethel asked looking at the brunette with a look of interest.

"They said to me, 'being a witch does not make us invincible and being a witch does not make us a miracle worker, being a witch does not mean it is impossible for things to go wrong, magic can't solve everything" Grace replied with a smile as she told Ethel the quote. Ethel looked at her sister who raised her eyebrows as if telling her that was a good quote to follow.

* * *

Ethel went back to her foster parents that night to explain to them what had happened and they called the girls social worker who told her by the next day they would get things moving but for that night Ethel had to stay at her foster parents so Esmerelda would have to cope for one more night without Ethel.

The older girl could not sleep that night and neither it seemed could Grace as the brunette sneaked into Esmerelda's room finding her friend wide awake as she kept glancing to the window every few seconds.

"She is safe don't worry" Grace told her able to read that the girl was worried about her.

"To think she was next door all along though" Esmerelda replied to her friends comment talking quietly into the darkness.

"Well at least you found each other" Grace replied beaming at her friend.

The next morning the two sisters sat through boring meetings with social workers as they went through details, Ethel was given a DNA test proving it was her and their family was contacted so all they could do now was wait.

As Esmerelda had being sent to the school to help her with her grieving and now that she was not grieving she was allowed to go back to Cackles along with Ethel but Grace was not completely through her programme yet, she still had a few months to go but luckily for her Laura and her gang had being leaving them both well alone since Esmerelda had accidentally attacked the other girl so at least Grace could go through the last few months in peace even if she was going to be alone.

* * *

Esmerelda and Ethel were both dressed smartly as they were going home for a few days before returning to school, Ethel's social worker was taking both the girls home and as Ethel crossed the street to go and thank her foster parents Esmerelda went to talk to Grace.

"Well hopefully I will be out of here soon too" Grace commented as she smiled at her friend happily.

"Here" Esmerelda commented handing the girl her mobile number "Please don't think I am ignoring you if it takes me ages to reply, I am not very good at technology and texting takes me forever" Esmerelda told her friend as she gave the girl a way to contact her.

"Not to mention you are away most of the year anyhow so you couldn't reply if you wanted to" Grace replied as she took the paper with a smile.

"Well yes there is that too" Esmerelda told her friend beaming.

Grace smiled as she looked at the younger girl across the way speaking to her foster parents.

"I really am so glad about how everything worked out so well for you" Grace told her friend honestly happy for her.

"Me too" Esmerelda said smiling as she too looked at Ethel "I am just sorry I am going to have to leave you here" Esmerelda told her friend feeling awful about the whole thing.

"Hey, you need to be with your sisters, I will be fine here honestly I can look after myself" Grace replied not wanting her friend to feel guilty.

"You know you should think about going back to witch school" Esmerelda suggested knowing the girl would be brilliant at any school she chose to go to.

"I don't know Esmie" Grace replied with a sigh "It is very hard when people tell you you are not even a witch and not only that but I will be way behind everyone else now" Grace replied explaining her reasons for not wanting to return to school.

"You are more of a witch than most of them lot, I mean you used your powers to save me when others use their powers for evil, you are a true witch Grace, I know that because of how you use your powers" Esmerelda told her friend really believing what she was saying.

Grace smiled at her friend happy she still believed in her but then shrugged before replying "I don't know" Grace replied honestly terrified of returning to witches school.

"Come to Cackles, I mean I go there so you will have a friend so it will be much better for you and I can help you catch up, I know I can not do any of these regular subjects to save my life but I do have a way with witching subjects" Esmerelda told her friend really wanting the girl to come to the school with her.

"Mmm...I will think about it, right now I am just trying to focus on getting out of this place" Grace replied not wanting to think about school right now.

"Esmerelda are you ready?" Ethel's social worker suddenly said as she waited by the car.

"Yes I am coming in a minute" Esmerelda said to the woman before turning back to Grace.

"I will text you a great curse to use on Laura in case her or the others start again" Esmerelda told Grace who snorted before laughing.

"Thanks but I can deal with Laura she is no match for me" Grace told her friend.

Esmerelda smiled before she suddenly hugged Grace and Grace knew this meant she really did like their friendship, she knew Esmerelda was not really in to hugging anyone outside of her family so it was a testament to how close they had become the last few months. Grace hugged her friend back and they stayed like that for a few minutes.

"Esmerelda!" the social worker said again causing the blonde to pull away and roll her eyes.

"Hopefully I see you soon" Esmerelda said as she walked towards the car and got in the back seat with her sister and Grace waved to them as the car drove away taking the sisters back home.


	26. Chapter 26

A/N: I love the way this story came out but this is the last chapter now! Thank you for all the reviews and amazing supporters, in particular to the stargate time traveller who supports me on all my stories. I do not own the worst witch or the characters.

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Six

The two sisters returned to school a week later and the first thing that happened was Sybil ran and hugged Ethel, Esmerelda knew that even though the two girls fought like cat and mouse they really did love each other and Sybil had really missed her sister, the two youngest girls kept their arms around each other for ages and Esmerelda watched smiling as she did so...they were finally all back together.

After a while Sybil pulled away and hugged Esmerelda for a good while too and then Miss Cackle came out and beamed at her pupils.

"How nice it is to have you back" Ada said to Esmerelda and Ethel happy to have the pupils back.

The girls walked back into the school and as they walked following Sybil as they spoke to each other they walked into the great hall and suddenly there was a loud shout of "Surprise!"

Both girls jumped as they looked around the hall. The entire hall was decorated with banners and streamers, there was a sign saying 'Welcome Back' and on the table was some amazing looking food: crisps, cake, biscuits, all the things the girls never got to eat in school. Both girls took it all in and then looked at the pupils.

Mildred was there, and Maud and Enid and Drusilla and Felicity and Sybil of course, all girls were in uniform but had their hair different from how they normally wore it, there was also someone else stood there and Esmerelda could not believe her eyes.

"Grace!?" Esmerelda said as Ethel looked over and saw the girl too and smiled. Esmerelda hugged the girl and saw she was in uniform, telling her she was a student now too.

"I took your advice and decided to come to the school, they gave me early release and I was so excited about being able to study as a witch again, so I applied and here I am!" Grace told her friend as she pulled away from the hug beaming.

"Grace and I set up this whole thing, we have been talking a lot because she is from a non-witching family too!" Mildred commented as she beamed watching the exchange between the friends.

Everyone fell silent as they turned to look at Ethel. She looked at everyone embarrassed not knowing what to say about her raise from the dead and only reacted when Mildred suddenly threw her arms around her.

"I missed you Ethel" Mildred told her as Ethel fussed and wiggled not enjoying the hug.

"That is great Mildred" Ethel replied as Mildred squeezed her more, but somehow this hug was dead awkward, not anything like the hugs with Esmerelda or Sybil.

"I know we fight but I was really upset when I found out you died, it is boring have no rival so I am so glad you are back" Mildred admitted really squeezing the girl in the one-sided hug, Ethel still had her arms by her side.

"Thanks Mildred..." Ethel said as the dark-haired girl finally pulled away and beamed at her before walking to Esmerelda.

Despite none of the Hallows really liking hugging people except each other, Mildred walked up to Esmerelda and threw her arms around the older girl too. Esmerelda's eyes went wide in shock as she stood there stiffly, but Esmerelda never one to be rude on purpose, put her arms around Mildred patting her back gently and awkwardly not knowing what else to do. Esmerelda only ever hugged her sisters and it had taken her months to hug Grace and even that lasted a few seconds so this was strange to her. Why did Mildred have to have a thing of hugging people all the time?

Mildred finally pulled away and Esmerelda smiled awkwardly at her and Enid, who could sense the awkwardness in the air, spoke up.

"Come on let's get this party started" she said as she waved her hand and music started playing from somewhere.

* * *

Both girls loved their party. Esmerelda and Grace spent a long time talking and Ethel spoke to Sybil explaining to her what had happened, Mildred walked past the two older students to get a drink and Esmerelda stopped her remembering something.

"Oh Mildred, I wanted to say sorry for ripping up the card you made it really was amazing and so thoughtful, I was not thinking straight at the time, I am sorry" Esmerelda told the young girl, apologising for what she had done months ago.

Mildred smiled at the older blonde "That is alright Esmerelda, I know you were not in the right frame of mind and it was probably a stupid idea to have gave it to you so soon afterwards, and hey it is not needed anymore is it?" Mildred replied accepting the apology and not feeling any anger towards the girl.

Esmerelda looked over at Ethel speaking to her younger sister as she held a drink in her hand and then Esmerelda turned back to look at Mildred and smiled.

"No...it is not needed" Esmerelda replied beaming and Mildred smiled as she left to go talk to Enid and Maud.

"How did your family take the news?" Grace asked after the girl had gone as she started to wonder how the rest of the Hallows had taken the news about Ethel.

"It was quite funny actually, my grandmother shouted at my parents for half a hour calling them idiots and things, she might be old but don't get her angry or she will yell at you" Esmerelda replied as Grace laughed.

"But my grandparents were so happy to see Ethel, they took a while to let her out of their sight, my parents were really happy too when they saw her" Esmerelda replied explaining to Grace.

"They were really happy?" Grace commented picking up on Esmerelda using the past tense "Which means they are not happy anymore?" the girl asked her friend confused.

"Not really, after a few days they stopped bothering with her again, seems they have not learned their lesson" Esmerelda told Grace in response.

"Is Ethel okay about it?" Grace asked concerned.

"Yes she is fine, she is starting to realise not to bother with our mother and father so much" Esmerelda replied as she took a drink of the lemonade she was holding.

* * *

After the party the girls went to their bedrooms to chill out after the party, Esmerelda went in her room and was not surprised when both her sisters and Grace followed her in, she always seemed to have someone in her room.

"I can't believe you set up a whole party for us, I thought everyone would of being happy I was gone" Ethel said as she sat on her sister's bed speaking to Sybil and Grace.

"Of course not, people missed you more than you think Ethel" Grace replied beaming at the younger girl.

"Yes it is true they really did, including me" Sybil told her sister as she sat next to her and hugged her again.

"Aww thanks Sybil, I wish I could say I missed you too but I had no idea who you were so I didn't" Ethel replied truthfully causing everyone in the room to laugh.

"I bet HB was thrilled when she found out she had another student from the non-witching world" Esmerelda commented speaking to Grace.

"Yes she was" the girl replied saracatically, "She has you three back and me I am sure she is crying into her pillow as we speak" Grace replied as everyone laughed more. Grace smiled as she started to make for the door.

"I have to go, I promised my mother I would mirror her tonight, see you later" Grace said as she left the room leaving the sisters alone.

* * *

Esmerelda sat on the bed with her sisters and smiled at them as she started to take her hair down now that the day was over.

"Did you enjoy the party Esmie?" Sybil asked her oldest sister.

"Very much so, thank you Sybil, did you enjoy it Ethie?" Esmerelda asked her younger sister as she finished taking her hair down.

Ethel still felt herself fill with happiness as she heard her special nickname again, she had gone months without hearing it and it was the thing that brought her memories back and reunited her with Esmie so it made it even more special, she beamed at her sister happily.

"Yes I loved it honestly" Ethel replied as Esmerelda smiled at her reaching for her hairbrush.

"Can I do it please?" Sybil asked liking when she got to brush the older girls hair.

"No, you always forget I have a scalp" Esmerelda replied with a chuckle as she remembered how much Sybil always seemed to pull on her as she brushed her hair.

"I will be gentle please?" Sybil asked knowing it just wasn't the same when she played with her own hair.

"Fine" Esmerelda said handing her the hairbrush and Sybil happily took it and started to brush her hair. Ethel watched and giggled to herself as Sybil was anything but gentle.

"Don't laugh at me you!" Esmerelda said to Ethel seeing her laughing.

"Oww Sybil" Esmerelda complained as she pulled on her hair.

"Sorry your hair is knotty" Sybil replied explaining herself as Ethel bit her lip trying not to laugh.

"Ethie!" Esmerelda scolded her "Why is my pain amusing?" Esmerelda asked pretending to be insulted.

"It is just so refreshing to see this again" Ethel replied as she removed her own hair from her ponytail as she spoke. Esmerelda smiled watching her also feeling relieved they were all together.

"Here come sit down, I will do your hair as Sybil does mine, remember how we always use to sit on the floor in a line and do each others hair?" Esmerelda asked remembering they did it a lot when they were little.

"I remember that" Ethel said going to sit in front of her sister grabbing another brush as she did so.

* * *

The three sisters sat like that for a couple of hours just playing with each others hair, after a while Sybil wanted hers done so Ethel swapped with Sybil to make it all interesting. Just as Ethel was doing Esmerelda's hair her bedroom door opened and Hecate stood there not looking impressed.

"What on earth are you three doing?" Hecate asked them as if it was not obvious.

"Just hairstyling Miss" Sybil replied as Esmerelda removed her hands from her head.

"You are not at a hairdressers, and why are you all still in uniform?" It is lights out in two minutes" the woman told them in a deadly voice.

Esmerelda looked at Ethel and Ethel could not refrain from snorting, the eldest had her hair in a bunch on one side and down on the other side, HB on the other hand did not find it amusing.

"Take that ridiculous hairstyle out of your hair this instant and get ready for bed!" She told Esmerelda before carrying on "You two off to your own rooms right now" Hecate told them as she looked at the younger two, Esmerelda hugged them both and kissed them both on the head seeing the teacher was about to flip as she was wasting more time, so she let go of them and the two girls walked out of the room.

"Goodnight, don't make me come back in here" Hecate told Esmerelda as she closed the door behind her.

Esmerelda smiled to herself, everything was back to normal, she had Ethie back, HB was being unreasonable and she finally had a friend in school, life was perfect for her in that moment and she quickly got changed getting into bed, for the first time in months getting into bed with her mind light and her heart full of happiness, so happy she no longer had to live without Ethie because honestly, it was impossible for her to do that, with her sister back with her she was able to fall into a deep sleep for the first time in months and she smiled in her sleep, knowing when she woke up her nightmare would have ended and Ethie would be with her again.


End file.
